The Outsiders Revealed
by booklover450
Summary: This is post book. Soda is cleaning out his and Pony's room when he discovers Pony's theme. He sits with the rest of the gang and against Ponyboy's wishes, they start to read it. Please, Read and Review! Positive critism welcomed! (How else am I supposed to learn?) :)
1. Chapter 1

It was another lazy summer day in Tulsa, Oklahoma. People could be seen outside hanging out with their friends and during the night nobody would be inside. Everyone was outside trying to relish the cool feeling along neck and try to empty their minds from all their troubles. Everyone except Ponyboy Curtis. He was inside his messy home trying to clean up after his second oldest brother, Sodapop Curtis.

Ponyboy surveyed the living room with amazement. Soda's jacket was on the floor by the armchair, one of his shoes was on the opposite side of the room from the other and there were bags of chips and cans of beer _everywhere. _But the whole gang was oblivious to all this. Soda, Steve Randle (Sodapop's best friend), Two-Bit and even Darry, Ponyboy's oldest brother, were sitting on the porch having a grand time joking with each other and occasionally wrestling. Ponyboy shook his head as he walked towards the gang.

"Hey guys, if you came into the living room you'll notice that it looks no different from a dumpster." Ponyboy said from the doorway with his arm crossed.

Both older Curtis brothers looked up guilty. They knew the house was trashed but gosh the weather was so nice and all they wanted to do was relax all day after a hard day's work.

"How about this; you clean up the living room a bit and I'll clean our room a bit. Then we come back out here and relax for the rest of the night. Whadya think Pony?" Soda said getting up.

Ponyboy's face broke out into grin. "You got yourself a deal. Come on." Then he turned towards Darry. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Dare." He said while sticking out his tongue out at him. Darry shook his head while watching him and Soda disappear into the house.

As Ponyboy started picking things up in the living room, Soda went into their bedroom. As Soda entered, he saw that the only thing he needed to do was pick up all the papers and books Ponyboy had thrown on the floor. Soda started humming a song he heard on the radio that morning as he picked up all of Ponyboy's things. He was so preoccupied by the song that he didn't notice Pony's textbook until it was too late. He tripped over it and with a loud _BANG!_ He landed on the floor.

"Soda, you okay?" Pony called from the other room.

"Yeah I'm fine! I just tripped over your textbook you kept on the floor, you little pig!" He shouted back.

He heard Ponyboy chuckle and he grinned. It was nice to know that somethings remained the same.

As Sodapop was getting up, he noticed something on the floor. He shoved some books aside and wrenched out a notebook.

It was titled "The Outsiders" By Ponyboy Curtis.

Curious, Sodapop flipped through it and was shocked and somewhat horrified to see very page filled words.

He took the notebook with him as he walked into the living room to ask Ponyboy what in this almighty world was this notebook about. He barely registered the fact that the gang had come back inside and were watching Mickey Mouse.

"Ponyboy, what is this?" Sodapop questioned.

Ponyboy glanced up and paled at the sight of the notebook in Sodapop's hand. In a wild dash, Ponyboy leapt up and tackled Soda to the ground as he attempted to grab the notebook. Two-Bit, who was now curious as to what was in Pony's notebook, grabbed it out of Soda's hand and opened it to the first page.

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home" Two-Bit read out loud. He looked down at Ponyboy, who had gotten off of Soda and now was looking at Two-Bit angrily, and Two-Bit said, "Kid, what is this?"

"It's my theme I wrote for English a couple of months ago. Nothing you guys would be interested." Ponyboy said hurridly.

"Yeah, we sure wouldn't be interested. That's why you desperately want to get this back." Two-bit cocked his eyebrows.

Darry looked up from his newspaper. "Is this the theme where you were supposed write about a personal experience of yours?"

Ponyboy nodded and he looked anxiously at Two-Bit, who was leafing through the notebook with a raised eyebrow.

"Glory kid, you sure liked to write." He said without looking up. Suddenly, he stopped flipping through the pages.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, "I mentioned here! And so are the rest of you guys! We're famous!" He said while jumping up and down like a five year old. Suddenly, everyone in the looked curious, even Steve Randle, who had looked bored at the very topic two seconds ago.

Uh oh, Ponyboy thought. Now they're going to read it.

"Why don't we read it?" Sodapop suggested, voicing Ponyboy's exact thought.

"Terrible idea." Ponyboy said at the same exact time Two-Bit said, "Perfect idea!"

"Come on, Pony. It ain't like we got other things to do besides bum around and watch Mickey. Right, Darry?" Soda asked.

Darry shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

But Two-Bit frowned. "What's wrong with watching Mickey?"

"Yeah, I agree with Two-Bit here what's wrong with watching Mickey? It's better than reading my theme, that's for sure."Ponyboy pleaded.

But Soda had his mind set. Part of him wanted to know what went through Ponyboy's mind but the other part wanted to respect his kid brother's privacy. Shaking his head, he grabbed the notebook from Two-Bit and opened to the first page. He looked around and saw everybody was seated and was looking at him anxiously to begin. Everybody but Ponyboy. Ponyboy had turned into an interesting shade of red.

"You guys are going to regret this. I'm warning you now. Don't complain if there's something in it that you don't like. I'm not going to sit around and here you guys read this; I'm gonna go out for a run." He spat out. And with that, Ponyboy turned around and ran into the night.

"Now I'm really curious as to what that kid wrote." Steve said looking shocked.

Soda shook his head. Maybe Ponyboy was just being a tad bit dramastic, He thought.

"Okay here I go guys." Soda said while taking a deep breath.

**Chapter 1**

"Hold on a sec, there's more than one chapter?" Two-Bit asked looking horrified.

"Yes you dolt. Now let me read." Soda replied.

Soda took another shaky breath and began to read again.

**A/N: Okay my first fanfiction not for school. I was kinda curious as to what the gang would say if they read Pony's thesis so voila! The Outsiders Revealed was the outcome. Please Read and Review. Positve critism = welcomed. Flames = screw them**

**Maybe if I have enough review, it just might encourage me to update sooner than planned ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I just want to give a birthday shout out to my bestest friend ever, Jamison Murray! Happy Birthday, Jaime! I love You!**

**Anyway back to Fanfiction. I finished this and i desperately want reviews! I want your opinions but no flames please. Oh, and anything in bold is obviously from the Outsider.**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do no own the The Outsiders. If I did, I'd have Sandy punished for breaking Soda's heart. I can't believe she got away with that! Soda, my love, you deserve much better! Like me ;) Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

**WHEN I STEPPED OUT into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman- he looks tough and I don't**

"Ponyboy does look tough." Soda said surprised.

"Well, have you seen the kid? He looks too innocent to be tough." Two-Bit replied.

Soda grabbed the nearest thing, a pillow, and threw it at Two-Bit. Two-Bit ducked and looked surprised.

"Hey! I was giving my opinion!" Two-Bit said.

"Yeah but nobody wanted to hear it." Soda murmured.

Two-Bit fake fainted into Darry's arm. "I'm hurt! I'm bleeding, I don't think I can live- "

Darry shoved Two-Bit onto the floor. "Shut up and let Soda read."

Darry was eager to hear more of the thesis. He was very curious as to what Ponyboy wrote in his thesis. He wanted to know what Ponyboy thought of him.

**- but I guess my own looks aren't so bad. I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes. I wish they were more gray, because I hate most guys that have green eyes,**

"What does he have against people with green eyes?" Steve asked curious.

The Curtis brothers shrugged. They were both learning things about Ponyboy in this essay along with the gang.

**but I have to be content with what I have. My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut. Besides, I look better with long hair.**

"He sure does." Darry murmured as he thought of the time when Pony's hair was short and blonde. He shuddered. He had nearly jumped out with joy when he saw Ponyboy's reddish brown hair grew back. It showed that things could go back to normal.**  
**

**I had a long walk home and no company, but I usually lone it anyway, for no reason except that I like to watch movies undisturbed so I can get into them and live them with the actors.**

"How do you do that?" Steve asked.

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "You didn't notice? Ponyboy's a weird kid."

Both Curtis brothers threw pillows at him in defense of their kid brother.

**When I see a movie with someone it's kind of uncomfortable, like having someone read your book over your shoulder. I'm different that way. I mean, my second -oldest brother, Soda, who is sixteen-going-on-seventeen, never cracks a book at all,**

"Hey! I'm in this story!" Soda squealed.

Two-Bit couldn't help it. "No Soda, he won't mention his older brother at all. He'd just ignore the little fact that he adores you and that you guys just happen to live with each other."

Soda dropped Pony's notebook and jumped Two-Bit. Darry sighed and grabbed Two-Bit away from Soda.

"Come on guys, ain't nobody got time for this." Darry said impatiently.

Soda glared at Two-Bit. "I've got my eyes on you, Mathews.

Two-Bit looked at him with mock fear. "I'm so scared Curtis!"

"Yeah, you better be." Soda mumbled. But he threw a good natured grin at Two-bit and he grinned back.

**and my oldest brother, Darrel, who we call Darry, **

"Darry! That's you!" Soda said as he punched Darry affectionately on the shoulder.

"You don't say." Two-Bit said as he rolled his eyes.

**works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture, so I'm not like them. And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do. For a while there, I thought I was the only person in the world that did. So I loned it.  
**

"That's such a depressing thought." Two-Bit said out loud.

Everybody thought how it must feel like you're were the only person in the world who did things the way you did.

Lonely was everybody's answer.

**Soda tries to understand, at least, which is more than Darry does.**

Darry winced. Soda, who had noticed Darry's shift of mood, leaned over and pattted him on the shoulder.

** But then, Soda is different from anybody; he understands everything, almost. Like he's never hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, or treating me as if I was six instead of fourteen. **

"I do not!" Darry protested. Everybody nodded their heads because they were all afraid of disagreeing with Darry when he was troubled.

**I love Soda more than I've ever loved anyone, even Mom and Dad. He's always happy-go-lucky and grinning, while Darry's hard and firm and rarely grins at all. But then, Darry's gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast. Sodapop'll never grow up at all. I don't know which way's the best. I'll find out one of these days.  
**

"My way." Both Curtis said at the same exact time.

**Anyway, I went on walking home, thinking about the movie, and then suddenly wishing I had some company. Greasers can't walk alone too much or they'll get jumped, or someone will come by and scream "Greaser!" at them, which doesn't make you feel too hot, if you know what I mean.**

"Don't mind them, Ponyboy." Two-Bit said to the notebook.

"Two-Bit, you know your talking to an inanimate object?" Steve said.

"No! I'm talking to Ponyboy." Two-Bit said while ignoring Soda's eye roll.

** We get jumped by the Socs. I'm not sure how you spell it, but it's the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids. It's like the term "greaser," which is used to class all us boys on the East Side.  
**

"Only Ponyboy would worry about spelling." Steve said and Darry threw a pillow at him.

**We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police. **

"He got that right." Darry murmured.

**Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can, and we're careful not to get caught when we can't. I only mean that most greasers do things like that, just like we wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, or leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets and tennis shoes or boots. I'm not saying that either Socs orgreasers are better; that's just the way things are.  
**

"They shouldn't be." Everybody said at the exact time.

"Your brother sure is observant." Steve said, trying to escape the weird looks everybody was throwing at each other.

"Well, when people don't talk Stevie, they do a strange thing; it's called listening. Ever heard of it?" Two-Bit said.

Steve took two pillows and threw 'em at Two-Bit.

**I could have waited to go to the movies until Darry or Sodapop got off work. They would have gone with me, or driven me there, or walked along, although Soda just can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie and they bore Darry to death. Darry thinks his life is enough without inspecting other people's. **

Darry's eyebrows shot up while Soda nodded his head.

**Or I could have gotten one of the gang to come along, one of the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider family. **

"I'm honored." Two-Bit said as he tried wipe fake tears.

**We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well. If I had thought about it, I could have called Darry and he would have come by on his way home and picked me up, or Two-Bit Mathews- one of our gang- would have come to get me in his car if I had asked him, but sometimes I just don't use my head. **

"Hey, that's me!" Two-Bit shouted.

"Yes you dolt, it's you. Unless Pony knows another Two-Bit." Soda said raising his eyebrows.

Two-Bit sat back down. "Shut up." He snapped.

**It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, 'cause I'm supposed to be smart; I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head. Besides, I like walking.  
**

"He likes to walk?! Who the hell likes to walk?! It takes up too much energy!" Two-Bit yelled.

Everybody looked at Two-Bit surprised but at that moment Ponyboy walked in. He took one look at everybody and knew they were engrossed with his thesis. He sighed.

"Hold on guys, let me change and I'll be with you in a sec." As he walked into his bedroom. When he came back out, he noticed there were several pillows by Two-Bit and everybody had another in their arms and looked like they were ready to throw them at Two-Bit if necessary.

Ponyboy grinned. "You commenting my thesis, Two-Bit?"

Two-Bit chest swelled with pride. "Of course I am; who do you think I am?"

**I about decided I didn't like it so much, though, when I spotted that red Corvair trailing me. I was almost two blocks from home then, so I started walking a little faster. I had never been jumped, but I had seen Johnny after four Socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty. Johnny was scared of his own shadow after that. Johnny was sixteen then.  
**

Soda stopped reading for a second. He remembered their good buddy. And from the solemn looks from everybody, especially Ponyboy, they remembered Johnny too.

**I knew it wasn't any use though- the fast walking, I mean- even before the Corvair pulled up beside me and five Socs got out. I got pretty scared- I'm kind of small for fourteen even though I have a good build, and those guys were bigger than me. **

The whole room was filled with growls. Ponyboy looked on, amused.

"Guys, I'm fine." He said and smiled as he saw Soda giving his notebook murderous looks.

**I automatically hitched my thumbs in my jeans and slouched, wondering if I could get away if I made a break for it. I remembered Johnny- his face all cut up and bruised, and I remembered how he had cried when we found him, half-conscious, in the comer lot. Johnny had it awful rough at home- it took a lot to make him cry.  
I was sweating something fierce, although I was cold. I could feel my palms getting clammy and the perspiration running down my back. I get like that when I'm real scared. I glanced around for a pop bottle or a stick or something- Steve Randle, Soda's best buddy, had once held off four guys with a busted pop bottle- but there was nothing. So I stood there like a bump on a log while they surrounded me. I don't use my head. They walked around slowly, silently, smiling.  
**

"Darry, I don't care about what you say but we are definitely kicking some Soc ass." Soda said in low voice.

"I agree, Pepsi-Cola." Darry replied all the while throwing murderous looks at Pony's notebook.

"Guys, I'm fine-" Ponyboy started. But Soda cut him off.

"I don't care if your fine now Pony. I am still kicking some Soc ass for trying to hurt my kid brother." Soda replied curtly.

**"Hey, grease," one said in an over-friendly voice. "We're gonna do you a favor, greaser. We're gonna cut all that long greasy hair off."  
He had on a madras shirt. I can still see it. Blue madras. One of them laughed, then cussed me out in a low voice. I couldn't think of anything to say. There just isn't a whole lot you can say while waiting to get mugged, so I kept my mouth shut.  
"Need a haircut, greaser?" The medium-sized blond pulled a knife out of his back pocket and flipped the blade open.  
**

"I SWEAR, I'M GOING TO KILL THOSE SOCS!" Soda pratically screamed. Pony. now afraid that Soda would rip his notebook in two, went to sit next to Soda and held him until he calmed down.

"I swear I'll never let anything hurt you anymore, Pony." Soda said looking at Ponyboy sincerely.

"Okay." Ponyboy replied because he knew there was no use arguing with Sodapop.

As Darry looked on, he felt a slight pang in his heart. He should have been there for Ponyboy but instead he had pushed him away.

It's all my fault, he thought as he sadly watch Pony giggle because Soda had lightly tickled him.

**I finally thought of something to say. "No." I was backing up, away from that knife. Of course I backed right into one of them. They had me down in a second. They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows, and if you don't think that hurts, you're crazy. I could smell English Leather shaving lotion and stale tobacco, and I wondered foolishly if I would suffocate before they did anything. I was scared so bad I was wishing I would. I fought to get loose, and almost did for a second; then they tightened up on me and the one on my chest slugged me a couple of times. So I lay still, swearing at them between gasps. A blade was held against my throat.  
"How'd you like that haircut to begin just below the chin?"  
It occurred to me then that they could kill me. I went wild. I started screaming for Soda, Darry, anyone. **

"Yes Pony! Yell as loud as you can!" Two-Bit yelled.

Everybody just looked at Two-Bit wearily.

"Hey Soda, pass me your pillow." Ponyboy asked. When he gained possession of it, he chucked it at Two-Bit as hard as he could.

"Hey!" Two-Bit protested. "What was that for? I was rooting for you!"

Ponyboy simply rolled eyes.

**Someone put his hand over my mouth, and I bit it as hard as I could, tasting the blood running through my teeth. I heard a muttered curse and got slugged again, and they were stuffing a handkerchief in my mouth. One of them kept saying, "Shut him up, for Pete's sake, shut him up!"  
Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me lying there, gasping. I lay there and wondered what in the world was happening- people were jumping over me and running by me and I was too dazed to figure it out. Then someone had me under the armpits and was hauling me to my feet. It was Darry.  
**

"Whoo! The gang to the rescue!" Two-Bit said as he pumped his fist into the air.

"I can see why you guys keep pillows ready." Ponyboy muttered.

Soda grinned and ruffled his kid brother's hair affectionately.

**"Are you all right, Ponyboy?"  
He was shaking me and I wished he'd stop. I was dizzy enough anyway. I could tell it was Darry though- partly because of the voice and partly because Darry's always rough with me without meaning to be.  
**

"Gosh, Pony I'm sorry." Darry said surprised. He didn't really think about it but now he realized that he must be kinda rough around Ponyboy.

Ponyboy waved his apology away. "Darry don't be sorry, this was months ago. Things have changed now."

**"I'm okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I'm okay."  
He stopped instantly. "I'm sorry."  
He wasn't really. Darry isn't ever sorry for anything he does. **

"Yes I am!" Darry shouted.

Soda glared at Darry. "Pony just said things have changed. Let it be, Dar." Soda said more softly as he saw the pleading look in Darry's eyes.

**It seems funny to me that he should look just exactly like my father and act exactly the opposite from him. My father was only forty when he died and he looked twenty-five and a lot of people thought Darry and Dad were brothers instead of father and son. But they only looked alike- my father was never rough with anyone without meaning to be.  
**

Darry looked at Pony guiltly. Oh god, I don't want to know about all the other mistakes I made, he thought miserably.

**Darry is six-feet-two, and broad-shouldered and muscular. He has dark-brown hair that kicks out in front and a slight cowlick in the back- just like Dad's- but Darry's eyes are his own. He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice. They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him. He looks older than twenty- tough, cool, and smart. He would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold. He doesn't understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head.  
**

"I've got to or else you and Soda would sent to a boys home." Darry muttered. He felt slightly hurt about Pony's description about him and Ponyboy must of notcied because he leaned over and punched Darry's shoulder affectionately, his eyes filled with unspoken apologies.

**I sat down again, rubbing my cheek where I'd been slugged the most.  
Darry jammed his fists in his pockets. "They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"  
They did. I was smarting and aching and my chest was sore and I was so nervous my hands were shaking and I wanted to start bawling, but you just don't say that to Darry.  
**

Darry just about exploded. "OF COURSE YOU CAN! YOU CAN TELL ME ANYTHING! I AIN'T NO ROBOT!"

Ponyboy looked sceptical while Soda leaned over and patted Darry's shoulder. "We know now Darry. Don't worry about it."

**"I'm okay."  
Sodapop came loping back. By then I had figured that all the noise I had heard was the gang coming to rescue me. **

"No, it was the local herd of elephants." Two-Bit muttered. But everybody heard and they all laughed.

**He dropped down beside me, examining my head.  
"You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?"  
I only looked at him blankly. "I did?"  
He pulled out a handkerchief, wet the end of it with his tongue, and pressed it gently against the side of my head. "You're bleedin' like a stuck pig."  
"I am?"**

"A bit slow, aren't you Pony?" Steve said. Ponyboy chose to ignore that and was grateful when Soda threw a pillow at him.

**"Look!" He showed me the handkerchief, reddened as if by magic. "Did they pull a blade on you?"  
I remembered the voice: "Need a haircut, greaser?" The blade must have slipped while he was trying to shut me up. "Yeah."  
Soda is handsomer than anyone else I know. Not like Darry- Soda's movie-star kind of handsome, the kind that people stop on the street to watch go by. He's not as tall as Darry, and he's a little slimmer, but he has a finely drawn, sensitive face that somehow manages to be reckless and thoughtful at the same time. **

"What a way to make me look tough." Soda said.

"The point wasn't to make you look tough, it was to describe the way you are." Pony said slightly hurt.

Soda grabbed him in a headlock. "I'm just kidding, kiddo. I love you."

**He's got dark-gold hair that he combs back- long and silky and straight- and in the summer the sun bleaches it to a shining wheat gold. His eyes are dark brown- lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next. He has Dad's eyes, but Soda is one of a kind. He can get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol. In our neighborhood it's rare to find a kid who doesn't drink once in a while. But Soda never touches a drop- he doesn't need to. He gets drunk on just plain living.**

There was a slight pause and then Soda grabbed Pony and swung him around.

"Aww, Pony I love you so much." Soda said as he ruffled his kid brothers hair. Ponyboy stepped away looking slightly embarrassed but pleased with himself.

Darry felt a dull ache in his chest. I wish I was like this with Pony, he thought.

** And he understands everybody.  
He looked at me more closely. I looked away hurriedly, because, if you want to know the truth, I was starting to bawl. I knew I was as white as I felt and I was shaking like a leaf.  
Soda just put his hand on my shoulder. "Easy, Ponyboy. They ain't gonna hurt you no more."  
"I know," I said, but the ground began to blur and I felt hot tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them away impatiently. "I'm just a little spooked, that's all." I drew a quivering breath and quit crying. You just don't cry in front of Darry. **

Darry sighed. "You can definitely cry in front of me Pony. You can cry your eyeball out for all I care. And I do care and I need to know how you're feeling, k Pony?"

Ponyboy nodded and smiled at his other older brother for his sake.

**Not unless you're hurt like Johnny had been that day we found him in the vacant lot. Compared to Johnny I wasn't hurt at all.  
Soda rubbed my hair. "You're an okay kid, Pony."  
I had to grin at him- Soda can make you grin no matter what. I guess it's because he's always grinning so much himself. "You're crazy, Soda, out of your mind."  
Darry looked as if he'd like to knock our heads together.**

"I should've." Darry muttered. Two pillows found their way towards Darry's face.

** "You're both nuts."  
Soda merely cocked one eyebrow, a trick he'd picked up from Two-Bit. "It seems to run in this family."**

"Hold it! We must establish the fact that there is only one Two-Bit." Two-Bit said. Darry, Soda, Pony and Steve sighed as they picked up a pillow and aimed it at Two-Bit.

After they were done hurtling pillows at him, Two-Bit looked at the mass of pillows surrounding him and looked up and asked, "Where are you guys getting all these pillows from?"

Ponyboy grinned mischievously. "From the sofa."

**Darry stared at him for a second, then cracked a grin. Sodapop isn't afraid of him like everyone else and enjoys teasing him. I'd just as soon tease a full-grown grizzly; but for some reason, Darry seems to like being teased by Soda.  
**

"PONYBOY MICHAEL CURTIS! YOU DID NOT JUST COMPARE ME WITH GRIZZLY BEAR! A FULL GROWN AT THAT!" Darry bellowed.

Ponyboy grinned sheepishly at him. "My bad, Dare."

**Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them. They came running toward us now- four lean, hard guys. **

"Why thank you, Ponyboy." Two-Bit said.

Ponyboy rolled his eyes.

**They were all as tough as nails and looked it. l had grown up with them, and they accepted me, even though I was younger, because I was Darry and Soda's kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good.  
**

"No, Ponyboy you got it wrong. You like you 'cause we like your company." Two-Bit replied honestly.

**Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls.**

"Finally! You say something about me!" Steve said.

** He was tacky, smart, and Soda's best buddy since grade school.**

"You got that right." Steve looking proud.

** Steve's specialty was cars. He could lift a hubcap quicker and more quietly than anyone in the neighborhood, but he also knew cars upside-down and backward, and he could drive anything on wheels. He and Soda worked at the same gas station- Steve part time and Soda full time- and their station got more customers than any other in town. Whether that was because Steve was so good with cars or because Soda attracted girls like honey draws flies, I couldn't tell you. I liked Steve only because he was Soda's best friend. **

"WHAT?!" Soda yelled.

Ponyboy winced and scooted closer to Darry. "Keep reading, Soda and you'll see why."

At the same time, Steve looked stricken. He knew he wasn't the nicest person on earth to Ponyboy but gosh he didn't know it was _this _bad.

**He didn't like me- he thought I was a tag-along and a kid; Soda always took me with them when they went places if they weren't taking girls, and that bugged Steve. It wasn't my fault; Soda always asked me; I didn't ask him. Soda doesn't think I'm a kid.  
**

"Why am I hearing about this right now?" Soda glared at Ponyboy. Ponyboy sat closer to Darry and shrugged.

"And you," Soda said as turned towards Steve. "You leave my kid brother alone, you hear?"

Soda sat back down and looked furious with himself. Ponyboy once again got up and held Soda until he had calmed down.

Darry looked glumly at the spot where Pony had been two seconds and wished he was still right next to him. I really need to improve the relationship I have with Ponyboy, he thought glumly.

**Two-Bit Mathews was the oldest of the gang and the wisecracker of the bunch. He was about six feet tall, stocky in build, and very proud of his long rusty-colored sideburns. **

"Why shouldn't I be?" Two-Bit questioned.

**He had gray eyes and a wide grin, and he couldn't stop making funny remarks to save his life. You couldn't shut up that guy; he always had to get his two-bits worth in. Hence his name. Even his teachers forgot his real name was Keith, and we hardly remembered he had one.**

"Well, you obviously remembered it because it just mentioned it." Two-Bit said smugly.

"Are you ever going to shut up?" Ponyboy asked annoyingly. At this rate, they'll never finish his thesis. Not that he wanted them to but still.

"Nope!" Two-Bit grinned.

** Life was one big joke to Two-Bit. He was famous for shoplifting and his black-handled switchblade (which he couldn't have acquired without his first talent), and he was always smarting off to the cops. He really couldn't help it. Everything he said was so irresistibly funny that he just had to let the police in on it to brighten up their dull lives. (That's the way he explained it to me.) **

"Good job, Two-Bit. Teach the kid how to smart off a cop." Steve said warily.

But Darry and Soda glared at him. Two-Bit looked at the two Curtis brothers and shrugged helplessly.

**He liked fights, blondes, and for some unfathomable reason, school. He was still a junior at eighteen and a half and he never learned anything. He just went for kicks. I liked him real well because he kept us laughing at ourselves as well as at other things. He reminded me of Will Rogers- maybe it was the grin.  
If I had to pick the real character of the gang, it would be Dallas Winston- Dally. **

Everybody's face grew somber as they thought of their dead buddy. Ponyboy buried his face into a pillow and both Darry and Soda rubbed his back.

**I used to like to draw his picture when he was in a dangerous mood, for then I could get his personality down in a few lines. He had an elfish face, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin, small, sharp animal teeth, and ears like a lynx. His hair was almost white it was so blond, and he didn't like haircuts, or hair oil either, so it fell over his forehead in wisps and kicked out in the back in tufts and curled behind his ears and along the nape of his neck. His eyes were blue, blazing ice, cold with a hatred of the whole world. Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten.**

"I want to meet the cop who arrested a ten year old." Steve said angrily. Everybody nodded their heads and Soda continued to read.

** He was tougher than the rest of us- tougher, colder, meaner. The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dally. He was as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang.**

"Good old Dally." Two-Bit thought wistfully. This time nobody threw pillows at him.

**In New York, Dally blew off steam in gang fights, but here, organized gangs are rarities- there are just small bunches of friends who stick together, and the warfare is between the social classes. A rumble, when it's called, is usually born of a grudge fight, and the opponents just happen to bring their friends along.**

"Nah, kid. We always bring our friends along." Two-Bit, hoping to lighten the tension. It worked; everybody was back to throwing pillows at him.

** Oh, there are a few named gangs around, like the River Kings and the Tiber Street Tigers, but here in the Southwest there's no gang rivalry. So Dally, even though he could get into a good fight sometimes, had no specific thing to hate. No rival gang. Only Socs. And you can't win against them no matter how hard you try, because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact. Maybe that was why Dallas was so bitter.  
**

"That's one way to look at it." Steve mused.

**He had quite a reputation. They have a file on him down at the police station. He had been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks, jumped small kids- he did everything. I didn't like him, but he was smart and you had to respect him.  
Johnny Cade was last and least. **

Another somber silence was filled into the room and Ponyboy shed some tears. Darry grabbed Pony and held onto him.

"Thanks Darry." Pony whispered and for a second Darry was happy that he was some sorta help to Ponyboy.

**If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny. He was the youngest, next to me, smaller than the rest, with a slight build. He had big black eyes in a dark tanned face; his hair was jet-black and heavily greased and combed to the side, but it was so long that it fell in shaggy bangs across his forehead. He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes, and that beating he got from the Socs didn't help matters. He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother. His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house. **

"That little son of-" Two-Bit said every curse word out there and more. Nobody stopped him 'cause they felt the same way.

**I think he hated that worse than getting whipped. He would have run away a million times if we hadn't been there. If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.  
**

"I hate how dead on right you are." Steve muttered. Ponyboy looked kinda embarrassed and shifted in his seat.

**I wiped my eyes hurriedly. "Didya catch 'em?"  
"Nup. They got away this time, the dirty..." Two-Bit went on cheerfully, calling the Socs every name he could think of or make up.  
"The kid's okay?"  
"I'm okay." I tried to think of something to say. I'm usu ally pretty quiet arotmd people, even the gang. I changed the subject. "I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet, Dally."  
"Good behavior. Got off early." **

"Dally wouldn't know what good behavior was even it danced naked right under his nose." Two-bit laughed. Everyone joined along and thought wistfully of the boy with fire in his eyes and ice in his heart.

**Dallas lit a cigarette and handed it to Johnny. Everyone sat down to have a smoke and relax. A smoke always lessens the tension. I had quit trembling and my color was back. The cigarette was calming me down. Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow. "Nice-lookin' bruise you got there, kid."  
I touched my cheek gingerly. "Really?"  
Two-Bit nodded sagely. "Nice cut, too. Makes you look tough."  
**

"Two-Bit, why are you encouraging the kid?" Darry sighed as he rubbed his temples.

Two-Bit shrugged. "He looked kinda down so i gave him a moral boost."

**Tough and tuff are two different words. Tough is the same as rough; tuff means cool, sharp- like a tuff-looking Mustang or a tuff record. In our neighborhood both are compliments.  
Steve flicked his ashes at me. "What were you doin', walkin' by your lonesome?" Leave it to good old Steve to bring up something like that.  
**

"Sorry kid." Steve said apologetically to Ponyboy. Ponyboy grinned and threw a pillow at him.

**"I was comin' home from the movies. I didn't think..."  
"You don't ever think," Darry broke in, "not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade."  
**

Darry winced. Before it seemed like a perfectly good thing to say but now, Darry realized how harshed his words were.

"Pony-" Darry began.

Pony sighed and threw a pillow at him. "Don't even think about apologizing to me Darry. This was months ago."

**I just stared at the hole in the toe of my tennis shoe. Me and Darry just didn't dig each other. I never could please him. He would have hollered at me for carrying a blade if I had carried one. If I brought home B's, he wanted A's, and if I got A's, he wanted to make sure they stayed A's. If I was playing football, I should be in studying, and if I was reading, I should be out playing football. He never hollered at Sodapop- not even when Soda dropped out of school or got tickets for speeding. He just hollered at me.**

"The kid can't seem to win now can he?" Two-Bit said. But Darry had turned to Ponyboy.

"I do yell at Soda, it's just that you never heard me." Darry said.

"I unfortunately did." Soda muttered.

**Soda was glaring at him. "Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain't his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to cut him to ribbons."  
Soda always takes up for me.  
**

"Why is that?" Two-Bit asked.

Soda shrugged. "'Cause Pony never yells back and I always feel like it's too one sided."

**Darry said impatiently, "When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother, I'll ask you- kid brother." But he laid off me. He always does when Sodapop tells him to. Most of the time.**

Two-Bit laughed. "Ran out of ways to say little brother, Darry?"

"Mathews, I swear, one more word and I'll skin you." Darry replied angrily.

**"Next time get one of us to go with you, Ponyboy," Two-Bit said. "Any of us will."  
"Speakin' of movies"- Dally yawned, flipping away his cigarette butt- "I'm walkin' over to the Nightly Double tomorrow night. Anybody want to come and hunt some action?"  
Steve shook his head. "Me and Soda are pickin' up Evie and Sandy for the game."  
He didn't need to look at me the way he did right then. I wasn't going to ask if I could come. I'd never tell Soda, because he really likes Steve a lot, but sometimes I can't stand Steve Randle. I mean it. Sometimes I hate him.  
**

"Ouch, that kinda hurts." Steve said. But Soda was glaring at him.

"You shut your trap. I can't believe you've been mean to my kid brother this whole time and I didn't notice."

"Soda-" Pony began. But Soda cut him off.

"You don't need to put up with people for my sake, okay honey? You do what you want to do." Soda said firmly.

"Okay, Soda." Pony replied. He knew he would never win this argument with him.

**Darry sighed, just like I knew he would. Darry never had time to do anything anymore. "I'm working tomorrow night."**

"And Darry," Soda was on a roll and nothing would stop him. "You need to take more breaks. You won't be helping us if you bust your back from working too hard."

Everybody was half scared of him now. "Sure thing, Pepsi-Cola." Darry said.

**Dally looked at the rest of us. "How about y'all? Two-Bit? Johnnycake, you and Pony wanta come?"  
"Me and Johnny'll come," I said. I knew Johnny wouldn't open his mouth unless he was forced to. "Okay, Darry?"  
"Yeah, since it ain't a school night." Darry was real good about letting me go places on the weekends. On school nights I could hardly leave the house.**

"Why would you want to go out during school nights?" Darry demanded. Everybody simply rolled their eyes.

**"I was plannin' on getting boozed up tomorrow night," Two-Bit said. "If I don't, I'll walk over and find y'all."  
**

"You're always drunk." Steve muttered. This time Two-Bit picked up one of the many pillows that were surrounding him and threw it at Steve.

**Steve was looking at Dally's hand. His ring, which he had rolled a drunk senior to get, was back on his finger. "You break up with Sylvia again?"  
"Yeah, and this time it's for good. That little broad was two-timin' me again while I was in jail."  
I thought of Sylvia and Evie and Sandy and Two-Bit's many blondes. They were the only kind of girls that would look at us, I thought. **

"Hold on a second. Did I just read that right? Or did my kid brother just admit he thought of girls?" Soda said looking incredulously at Ponyboy as if he were a totally different person.

Ponyboy threw a pillow at him and turned a ver interesting shade of red.

**Tough, loud girls who wore too much eye makeup and giggled and swore too much. I liked Soda's girl Sandy just fine, though. Her hair was natural blond and her laugh was soft, like her china-blue eyes. **

"Yeah she was something special." Soda said wistfully. "Too bad she went and cheated on me."

Ponyboy got up and hugged Sodapop. "I'm sorry." He murmured.

"It's okay, Pony. I still got you and Darry and that's enough for me."

"Curtis Love! It's just too much for me!" Two-Bit wailed and pretended to blow his nose. Three pillows quickly greeted his face after that.

**She didn't have a real good home or anything and was our kind- greaser- but she was a real nice girl. Still, lots of times I wondered what other girls were like. The girls who were bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if they'd like to spit on us if given a chance. Some were afraid of us, and remembering Dallas Winston, I didn't blame them. But most looked at us like we were dirt- gave us the same kind of look that the Socs did when they came by in their Mustangs and Corvairs and yelled "Grease!" at us. I wondered about them. The girls, I mean... Did they cry when their boys were arrested, like Evie did when Steve got hauled in,**

"She cried?!" Steve asked surprised. Everybody in the room gave him as _you got to be kidding me _look.

** or did they run out on them the way Sylvia did Dallas? But maybe their boys didn't get arrested or beaten up or busted up in rodeos.  
**

"Nah, those Soc just got away again." Two-Bit said.

**I was still thinking about it while I was doing my homework that night. I had to read Great Expectations for English, and that kid Pip, he reminded me of us- the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him. That happened to me once. **

"WHAT?!" Both Curtis brother yelled at Pony.

"When did this happen?!" Soda demanded.

"Keep reading." Was all Pony said.

**One time in biology I had to dissect a worm, and the razor wouldn't cut, so I used my switchblade. The minute I flicked it out- I forgot what I was doing or I would never have done it- this girl right beside me kind of gasped, and said, "They are right. You are a hood." That didn't make me feel so hot. **

"Aww, Pony. She wasn't worth it." Soda said. Darry nodded his head in agreement.

**These were a lot of Socs in that class- I get put into A classes because I'm supposed to be smart- and most of them thought it was pretty funny. **

"You ARE smart." Darry growled. Poyn just sat back and watched in amazement. He never the gang would respond so strongly to his thesis. And it was only the first chapter!

**I didn't, though. She was a cute girl. She looked real good in yellow.  
We deserve a lot of our trouble, I thought. Dallas deserves everything he gets, and should get worse, if you want the truth. And Two-Bit- he doesn't really want or need half the things he swipes from stores. He just thinks it's fun to swipe everything that isn't nailed down. **

"Hey! That ain't true!" Two-Bit protested. Ponyboy just looked at him with his eyebrows raised.

"Okay, maybe a little." Two-Bit admitted.

**I can understand why Sodapop and Steve get into drag races and fights so much, though- both of them have too much energy, too much feeling, with no way to blow it off.  
**

"Of course Soda has a perfectly good reason to get into fights. He can, after all, do no wrong in Pony's eyes." Two-Bit muttered.

"Mathews, you're really asking for it." Soda warned.

**"Rub harder, Soda," I heard Darry mumbling. "You're gonna put me to sleep."  
I looked through the door. Sodapop was giving Darry a back-rub. Darry is always pulling muscles; he roofs houses and he's always trying to carry two bundles of roofing up the ladder. I knew Soda would put him to sleep, because Soda can put about anyone out when he sets his head to it. **

"Should I take that as a compliment?" Soda asked, confused.

"Well, the kid writes nothing but praises about you so just think of it as another praise." Steve said jokingly at his best friend. Soda grinned at him.

**He thought Darry worked too hard anyway. I did, too.  
Darry didn't deserve to work like an old man when he was only twenty. He had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the Year. But we just didn't have the money for him to go to college, even with the athletic scholarship he won. And now he didn't have time between jobs to even think about college. So he never went anywhere and never did anything anymore, except work out at gyms and go skiing with some old friends of his sometimes.  
**

That was probably the most decent description of him yet, Darry thought. At leat Pony understands all that I am sacrificing.

**I rubbed my cheek where it had turned purple. I had looked in the mirror, and it did make me look tough. But Darry had made me put a Band-Aid on the cut.  
**

"Really Dare, a Band-Aid? What is he, five or something?" Steve said as he rolled his eyes.

**I remembered how awful Johnny had looked when he got beaten up. I had just as much right to use the streets as the Socs did, and Johnny had never hurt them. Why did the Socs hate us so much? We left them alone. I nearly went to sleep over my homework trying to figure it out.  
**

"Kid that's one question you won't ever find the answer to." Two-Bit said wearily.

**Sodapop, who had jumped into bed by this time, yelled sleepily for me to turn off the light and get to bed. When I finished the chapter I was on, I did.  
Lying beside Soda, staring at the wall, I kept remem bering the faces of the Socs as they surrounded me, that blue madras shirt the blond was wearing, and I could still hear a thick voice: "Need a haircut, greaser?" I shivered.  
"You cold, Ponyboy?"  
"A little;" I lied. **

"Pony, I've been you're older brother for 14 years. I know when you are lying." Soda said while grinnig at Ponyboy.

**Soda threw one arm across my neck. He mumbled something drowsily. "Listen, kiddo, when Darry hollers at you... he don't mean nothin'. He's just got more worries than somebody his age ought to. Don't take him serious... you dig, Pony? Don't let him bug you. He's really proud of you 'cause you're so brainy. It's just because you're the baby- I mean, he loves you a lot. Savvy?"  
**

Finally, Darry thought. Somebody is defending me.

**"Sure," I said, trying for Soda's sake to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.  
**

"Same thing like I said before, I know when you're hiding things Pony." Soda said. He had to duck as a pillow came sailing at him.

**"Soda?"  
"Yeah?"  
"How come you dropped out?" I never have gotten over that. I could hardly stand it when he left school.  
**

"I didn't know you took that personally." Soda said softly. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Pony."

Ponyboy looked strikened. "EMBARRASS ME?! Sodapop Patrick Curtis embarrass me?! No way. Not ever going to happen."

Soda gave him a sad smile.

**" 'Cause I'm dumb. The only things I was passing anyway were auto mechanics and gym."  
"You're not dumb."  
"Yeah, I am. Shut up and I'll tell you something. Don't tell Darry, though."  
"Okay."  
"I think I'm gonna marry Sandy. After she gets out of school and I get a better job and everything. I might wait till you get out of school, though. So I can still help Darry with the bills and stuff."  
**

There was a silence and everybody except Soda thought how if they could grab hold of Sandy, they'd show her that she messed with the wrong gang.

**"Tuff enough. Wait till I get out, though, so you can keep Darry off my back."  
"Don't be like that, kid. I told you he don't mean half of what he says..."  
"You in love with Sandy? What's it like?"  
"Hhhmmm." He sighed happily. "It's real nice."  
In a moment his breathing was light and regular. I turned my head to look at him and in the moonlight he looked like some Greek god come to earth. I wondered how he could stand being so handsome. **

"I's hard but I try." Soda said to losen the tension. He grabbed the pillow out of Steve's hand though, because Steve looked like he wanted to murder somebody and Soda thought it was better for everyone's health if Steve didn't have anything inhis hand.

**Then I sighed. I didn't quite get what he meant about Darry. Darry thought I was just another mouth to feed and somebody to holler at. Darry love me? I thought of those hard, pale eyes. Soda was wrong for once, I thought. Darry doesn't love anyone or anything, except maybe Soda. **

"NOT TRUE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU PONYBOY!" Darry pratically shouted.

"Geez Darry, I think even the neighbors heard that." Ponyboy said. "And I get that you care but you got to remember this was months ago. You've gotten much better since then."

**I didn't hardly think of him as being human. I don't care, I lied to myself, I don't care about him either. Soda's enough, and I'd have him until I got out of school. I don't care about Darry. But I was still lying and I knew it. I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.****  
**

"Well, that's the end of chapter one, guys." Soda said looking up. Darry got up and stretched.

"I'm gonna some pasta for dinner and then maybe we can read the second chapter. You guys wanna stay?" Darry asked Two-Bit and Steve.

"Sure." They both said. Everybody then walked into the kitchen to help make dinner.

**A/N: Phew, I got this done! Finally! If you guys have any ideas on how the gang should react, please PM me! I am always open to new ideas!**

**But most importantly, Read and Review! I wanna know what you guys think. And the more reviews, the faster I update! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so finally got this finished. Tell me what you guys think. I tried to make Darry a bit more mature. I guess kinda got carried away... Anyway please Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders sadly because if I did, I'd add myself in and make Ponyboy marry me. ;)**

Darry watched as everybody but Ponyboy eat as fast as they could. Pony was talking his time and wouldn't look anybody in the eye. Next thing he knew, Soda, Steve and Two-Bit had thrown their dishes in the sink (It was his and Ponyboy's turn to do the dishes) and ran into the living room all the while yelling at Pony and Darry to hurry up. Pony smiled and got up to wash the dishes while Darry dried them. They were silent for a while but Darry spoke the one thing that had nagging him while reading Pony's thesis.

"Pony, do y-you still have some of those feelings?" Darry blurted out.

Pony looked thoughtful and then nodded his head.

Darry felt his heart shatter and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. But he was so surprised by Pony's answer that he only managed an, "Oh."

But surprising Ponyboy grinned at him. "I still think you work too hard for your own good. I still think that you should go out and enjoy yourself and I still think that you've gone through way too much in your 20 years. And I still love you, Darry. Nothing else, I swear." Ponyboy said while looking him straight in the eye.

Darry knew from the way Pony kept his gaze on him that he was telling the truth. Relief coursed through his body and a smile found its way towards his lip. Pony, who had been watching him, shook his head at Darry's naivetés.

"I can't believe you thought that I would hate for no apparent reason, Dare. I mean, what do you take me for?" Pony muttered as he dried his hand.

Darry grinned at him and grabbed him in a headlock. "Holler uncle."

"In your dreams, Darry." Ponyboy said as he tried to break free from Darry's steel grip.

Right then, Sodapop came in to tell them to hurry up. He stopped when he saw Darry letting go of Ponyboy but only to tickle the kid to tears. Without realizing it, he sighed with relief. He had been a bit afraid that Pony still held a grudge against Darry but now he saw that it was impossible as Pony held side in an attempt to protect himself from Darry's tickles.

"I wanna join!" Soda said as stood by Darry.

A giggling Ponyboy shook his head. "N-not fair. T-two against o-one."

Two-Bit popped his head in through the doorway. "Really, Curtis? Can't you torment your kid brother another time? Stevie and I want to know more about ourselves in Pony's theme (**A/N: Just realized I've been calling it thesis when it really was theme. Sorry!**) and we don't have the whole night!"

The three Curtis brothers rolled their eyes at him as they filed out of the kitchen. Ponyboy grabbed some soda and handed everybody a can as they sat down to read his theme.

"I wanna read this time!" Two-Bit shouted.

Soda tossed him the notebook and everybody laid back to listen as Two-Bit carried on the story.

**Chapter 2**

DALLY WAS WAITING for Johnny and me under the street light at the corner of Pickett and Sutton, and since we got there early, we had time to go over the drugstore in the shopping center and goof around. We bought Cokes and blew the straws at the waitress,

"Really, Pony I thought we taught you better. You should never be rude to a girl." Darry said in his disapproving tone.

Ponyboy looked sheepishly at him. "Sorry Dare but we were with Dally."

"That's not an excuse." Darry said.

**and walked around eyeing things that were lying out in the open until the manager got wise to us and suggested we leave. He was too late, though; Dally walked out with two packages of Kools under his jacket.  
**

Two-Bit pretends to tear up. "I'm so proud of my young grasshopper."

Soda sighed as he took a pillow and threw it at Two-Bit.

**Then we went across the street and down Sutton a little way to The Dingo. There are lots of drive-ins in town- the Socs go to The Way Out and to Rusty's, and the greasers go to The Dingo and to Jay's.**

"I never really noticed how divided we were." Steve mused. Soda looked thoughtful and nodded his head to agree with Steve's comment.

**The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot.**

"Why would you go to The Dingo if you knew it was a rough hang out?" Darry asked Ponyboy.

Ponyboy shrugged. "Dally had said he wanted to hunt some action so he probably thought The Dingo was a good place."

**We walked around talking to all the greasers and hoods we knew, leaning in car windows or hopping into the back seats, and getting in on who was running away, **

"About a quarter of them were running away." Two-Bit said.

**and who was in jail, **

"Half of 'em." Two-Bit said again.

**And who was going with who, and who could whip who,**

"I could whip them all." Two-Bit said. Steve, who was now done with his coke, threw his empty can at Two-Bit.

**and who stole what and when and why. **

"You don't need a reason to steal something." Two-Bit said.

"Are you really going to comment on everything I wrote?" Ponyboy asked wearily.

Two-Bit looked at him, shocked. "Of course! My sole purpose is to lighten your pessimistic thoughts!"

This time Darry's newspaper hit him in the face because there had been no pillows around Pony.

"I miss the pillows." Two-Bit grumbled as he swatted the newspaper away.

**We knew about everybody there. There was a pretty good fight while we were there between a big twenty-three-year-old greaser and a Mexican hitchhiker. We left when the switchblades came out, because the cops would be coming soon and nobody in his right mind wants to be around when the fuzz show.  
**

"You better have run." Darry grumbled.

**We crossed Sutton and cut around behind Spencer's Special, the discount house, and chased two junior-high kids across a field for a few minutes;**

"Why would you do that?" Darry asked Ponyboy.

This time two pillows came sailing at Darry; one from Soda and one from Steve.

"Quit nagging Pony on things that he did months ago. It ain't like he can go in a time machine and change what he done." Surprisingly, came from Steve who was never known for sticking up for Ponyboy. Even Soda looked surprised from his buddy's outburst.

**by then it was dark enough to sneak in over the back fence of the Nightly Double drive-in movie.**

"I thought I gave you the money for that movie." Soda looked at Pony curiously.

"Keep reading." Was all Pony replied.

**It was the biggest in town, and showed two movies every night, and on weekends four- you could say you were going to the Nightly Double and have time to go all over town.  
**

"Are you trying to tell us something, Ponyboy?" Both Curtis brothers said at the exact same time.

Ponyboy flushed a brilliant shade of red. "I-I was merely stating fact."

His brothers looked at him knowingly.

**We all had the money to get in- it only costs a quarter if you're not in a car- but Dally hated to do things the legal way. **

"Oh." Soda said. "What did you do with the money then?"

Pony shrugged. "I saved it."

**He liked to show that he didn't care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws. We went to the rows of seats in front of the concession stand to sit down. Nobody else was there except two girls who were sitting down front. Dally eyed them coolly, then walked down the aisle and sat right behind them. **

"I have a bad feeling about this." Two-Bit said.

Ponyboy sighed. "Two-Bit, this already happened. You know what happened!"

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "What? I'm not allowed to feel now because I already know what happened?"

Ponyboy rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him, which Darry had passed to him.

**I had a sick feeling that Dally was up to his usual tricks, and I was right. He started talking, loud enough for the two girls to hear. He started out bad and got worse. Dallas could talk awful dirty if he wanted to and I guess he wanted to then. I felt my ears get hot. Two-Bit or Steve or even Soda would have gone right along with him, just to see if they could embarrass the girls, but that kind of kicks just doesn't appeal to me. I sat there, struck dumb, and Johnny left hastily to get a Coke.  
**

"You should've left with Johnny." Soda rolled his eyes at kid brother.

Pony shrugged. "I guess I don't use my head."

A pillow from Darry quickly came sailing towards Pony.

**I wouldn't have felt so embarrassed if they had been greasy girls- I might even have helped old Dallas.**

"You've would've what?" Darry exclaimed.

"Hey! I never asked any of you to read this!" Pony said in response to Darry's grumbling.

**But those two girls weren't our kind. They were tuff-looking girls- dressed sharp and really good-looking. They looked about sixteen or seventeen. One had short dark hair, and the other had long red hair. The redhead was getting mad, or scared. She sat up straight and she was chewing hard on her gum. The other one pretended not to hear Dally. Dally was getting impatient. He put his feet up on the back of the redhead's chair, winked at me, and beat his own record for saying something dirty. **

"That I would've paid to hear." Steve said.

"What did Dally say?" Two-Bit asked Pony.

Pony shook his head and pretended to zip his mouth. "I ain't sayin'"

"I'll get it out of him." Ponyboy heard Soda whisper to Steve. Pony took a pillow and aimed it at his brother's head.

**She turned around and gave him a cool stare.  
"Take your feet off my chair and shut your trap."  
Boy, she was good-looking. I'd seen her before; she was a cheerleader at our school. I'd always thought she was stuck-up.  
Dally merely looked at her and kept his feet where they were. "Who's gonna make me?"  
The other one fumed around and watched us. "That's the greaser that jockeys for the Slash J sometime," she said, as if we couldn't hear her.  
I had heard the same tone a million times: "Greaser... greaser... greaser." Oh yeah, I had heard that tone before too many times. **

Darry frowned. He never knew Ponyboy felt uncomfortable being a greaser and from the look on Soda's face, he didn't know either.

**What are they doing at a drive-in without a car? I thought, and Dallas said, "I know you two. I've seen you around rodeos."  
"It's a shame you can't ride bull half as good as you can talk it," the redhead said coolly and turned back around.  
**

"Ohhhh." Came from everybody around the room except Ponyboy, who had leaned back and enjoyed the gang's reaction.

**That didn't bother Dally in the least.**

"It didn't?" Two-Bit exclaimed. "If it was anyone of us, we would have our head beat in."

**"You two barrel race, huh?"  
"You'd better leave us alone," the redhead said in a bit ing voice, "or I'll call the cops."  
"Oh, my, my"- Dally looked bored- "you've got me scared to death. You ought to see my record sometime, baby." He grinned slyly. "Guess what I've been in for?"  
"Please leave us alone," she said. "Why don't you be nice and leave us alone?"  
Dally grinned roguishly. "I'm never nice. Want a Coke?"  
**

"Isn't that kinda oxymoronic? He says he's never nice but then he offers some coke." Two-Bit said and then he ducked as he waited for pillows to be thrown at him but they never came. When he looked up, everybody was looking at him surprisingly.

"Two-Bit Mathews, I think that was the smartest thing you've ever said." Ponyboy said while looking shocked.

Two-Bit sniffed. "No need to look so surprised. I've got a brain, you know."

"No, I didn't know." Said a dazed Soda. This time, Two-Bit threw a pillow at him.

**She was mad by then. "I wouldn't drink it if I was starving in the desert. Get lost, hood!"  
Dally merely shrugged and strolled off.  
The girl looked at me. I was half-scared of her. I'm half-scared of all nice girls, especially Socs.**

"Pony, that makes no sense. Why would you be half-scared of nice girls?" Soda asked.

"Like I said before, Pony's a weird kid." Two-Bit replied.

Ponyboy now threw his empty coke can at Two-Bit, who managed to duck away from it.

**"Are you going to start in on us?"  
I shook my head, wide-eyed. "No."  
Suddenly she smiled. Gosh, she was pretty. **

"Oh, someone's got a crush!" Steve said in singsong voice.

A flushed Ponyboy threw a pillow at him.

**"You don't look the type. What's your name?"  
I wished she hadn't asked me that. I hate to tell people my name for the first time. "Ponyboy Curtis."  
**

Darry frowned. "What's wrong with your name?"

Two-Bit looked at him like he was crazy. "You've got to be kidding me. Have you ever heard of somebody's name like that?"

"Hey!" Ponyboy exclaimed and Soda threw a pillow at Two-Bit.

**Then I waited for the "You're kidding!" or "That's your real name?" or one of the other remarks I usually get. Ponyboy's my real name and personally I like it.  
The redhead just smiled. "That's an original and lovely name."  
**

"There might actually be a decent Soc in town." Soda mused.

"I told you so." Was Pony's reply.

**"My dad was an original person," I said.**

"He sure was." Darry said wistfully. The three Curtis brothers thought sadly about their happy and laughing father but they were quickly broken out of their daydream by Two-Bit's soft voice as he continued to read.

**"I've got a brother named Sodapop, and it says so on his birth certificate."  
"My name's Sherri, but I'm called Cherry because of my hair. Cherry Valance."  
"I know," I said. "You're a cheerleader. We go to the same school."  
"You don't look old enough to be going to high school," the dark-haired girl said.  
"I'm not. I got put up a year in grade school."  
**

Darry looked proudly at Ponyboy. He's gonna go somewhere, he thought. He's gonna make himself something big.

**Cherry was looking at me. "What's a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?"  
**

"Hey!" Steve said angrily. "That's our buddy!"

Two-Bit really couldn't help himself this time. "No, we all thought Dally was Soda's twin or something."

Steve chucked a pillow at him.

**I felt myself stiffen. "I'm a grease, same as Dally. He's my buddy."  
**

Steve nodded his head approvingly at Pony. "Good job, Pony. We stick up for our buddies." He said as he shot Two-Bit a look.

"Hey! I'll stick up for you guys anytime." He grinned.

**"I'm sorry, Ponyboy," she said softly. Then she said briskly, "Your brother Sodapop, does he work at a gasoline station? At DX, I think?"  
"Yeah."  
"Man, your brother is one doll. I might have guessed you were brothers- you look alike."  
I grinned with pride- I don't think I look one bit like Soda, but it's not every day I hear Socs telling me they think my brother is a doll.  
**

Two-Bit puts the notebook down and examines Ponyboy and Soda.

"Hey! Would ya look at that, she's right!" Two-Bit sounded like he just discovered a cure for cancer. Everybody though nodded their heads and Soda and Pony just grinned at each.

**"Didn't he used to ride in rodeos? Saddle bronc?"  
"Yeah. Dad made him quit after he tore a ligament, though. We still hang around rodeos a lot. I've seen you two barrel race. You're good."  
"Thanks," Cherry said, and the other girl, who was named Marcia, said, "How come we don't see your brother at school? He's not any older than sixteen or seventeen, is he?"  
I winced inside. I've told you I can't stand it that Soda dropped out. "He's a dropout," I said roughly. "Dropout" made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum wandering the streets breaking out street lights- it didn't fit my happy-go-lucky brother at all. **

"I'm sorry, Pony." Soda said sadly.

"Don't be." Pony said as he hugged Soda.

**It fitted Dally perfectly, but you could hardly say it about Soda.  
**

"Of course Soda's the saint." Two-Bit muttered. Two pillows quickly greeted him.

**Johnny came back then and sat down beside me. He looked around for Dally, then managed a shy "Hi" to the girls and tried to watch the movie. He was nervous, though. Johnny was always nervous around strangers. Cherry looked at him, sizing him up as she had me. Then she smiled softly, and I knew she had him sized up right.  
**

"How could you not?" Two-Bit demanded and this time nobody threw pillows at him because for once he was right.

**Dally came striding back with an armful of Cokes. He handed one to each of the girls and sat down beside Cherry. "This might cool you off."  
She gave him an incredulous look; and then she threw her Coke in his face. **

"What?!" Everybody but Pony demanded.

"Oh boy," Pony said looking amused. "You guys are going to flip at what Johnny says."

**"That might cool you off, greaser. After you wash your mouth and learn to talk and act decent, I might cool off, too."  
Dally wiped the Coke off his face with his sleeve and smiled dangerously. If I had been Cherry I would have beat it out of there. I knew that smile.  
**

"All hell's about to break loose." Steve said. But Soda looked worried.

"Why didn't you tell us about this, Pony?" Soda asked.

"I was," Pony said truthfully. "But then, you know, things kinda got out of hand and well, you know the rest."

"Oh." Was Soda's reply as he thought guilty of that horrible week. I should've been there for him, he thought glumly. (**A/N: If any of you guys want to read a good fanfic about when Pony disappears and how his brothers felt, you should read "My Darkest Days" by Independence Undervalued. Now there's a good writer.")**

"Don't beat yourself up, Soda." Ponyboy said as he hugged his brother again.

**"Fiery, huh? Well, that's the way I like 'em." He started to put his arm around her, but Johnny reached over and stopped him.  
"Leave her alone, Dally."  
**

"What?!" Everybody shouted.

"I can't believe little Johnny just said that!" Two-Bit said.

"It's more surprising than to hear that Two-Bit had brain!" Soda exclaimed.

"Hey!" Two-Bit said as he chucked a pillow at Soda.

"Dally couldn't believe it either. Keep reading, Two-Bit." Pony said. He smiled as he watched everybody lean forwards in their seats, ready to hear Dally's reaction.

**A/N: There you go guys! I hope you like it! PM me some ideas. Oh, and if your curious, I'll tell you right now that I will add Tim Shepard into this. Don't worry. He's coming in soon. **

**The more reviews I get, the faster I update. ;) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay sorry this took a while but I just found out my boyfriend had been cheating on me. Now he wants me back and I have no idea what to do. Should I give him a second chance or should I just forget about him?**

**Now I now how Soda felt when Sandy cheated on him. Or maybe even Dally when Sylvia cheated on him. God, I hate cheaters. Feel free to tell me your opinion. Maybe I should tell him that I'm already in love with Ponyboy... ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders but if I did, I'd give Dally a better ending. He deserved it. **

**"Huh?" Dally was taken off guard. He stared at Johnny in disbelief. Johnny couldn't say "Boo" to a goose. Johnny gulped and got a little pale, but he said, "You heard me. Leave her alone."  
**

"This theme keeps surprising me more and more. It is the ultimate prophecy!" Two-Bit said as he got up and bowed down to Pony's notebook.

Everybody rolled their eyes at Two-Bit but they agreed with him; Pony's theme kept surprising everybody, even Soda who thought he knew everything about Ponyboy.

**Dallas scowled for a second. If it had been me, or Two-Bit, or Soda or Steve, or anyone but Johnny, Dally would have flattened him without a moment's hesitation. **

"Doesn't the word buddy mean anything to you, Pony? He would think about it and _then _flatten. Major difference." Two-Bit said.

Pony looked at him, shocked. But then he quickly recovered as he threw a pillow at him.

**You just didn't tell Dally Winston what to do. One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose. A complete stranger, too. **

"What was the point in that?" Darry asked.

Two-Bit shook his head. "You Curtis brothers, I feel like NONE of you use your heads. Dallas obviously did that to make him look tough. Duh."

Darry got up and put Two-Bit in a headlock. "I'll put you out of misery if you promise to shut up."

But Two-Bit grinned his crazy grinned. "Never! I promise to be true to myself forever! No superman is going to change that!"

Darry couldn't help but grin as he dropped Two-Bit.

**But Johnny was the gang's pet, and Dally just couldn't hit him. He was Dally's pet, too. Dally got up and stalked off, his fists jammed in his pockets and a frown on his face. He didn't come back.  
Cherry sighed in relief. "Thanks. He had me scared to death."  
Johnny managed an admiring grin. "You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dally like that."  
**"Johnny did." Steve said.

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "Thank you Mr. Obvious. We're all grateful that you caught on."

Steve pointed his finger at him. "Watch it, Mathews."

**She smiled, "From what I saw, you do."  
Johnny's ears got red. I was still staring at him. It had taken more than nerve for him to say what he'd said to Dally- Johnny worshiped the ground Dallas walked on, and I had never heard Johnny talk back to anyone, much less his hero.  
**

Everybody was visibly upset as they thought of their younger buddy. They remember the obvious admiration that had glinted in Johnny's eye when Dally was around. Everybody felt sick to their stomach at the thought of them being gone.

A sudden thought came across Darry's mind. If this was the night Pony had went to the movie, then that means this was the night I slipped up, Darry thought. He suddenly felt uncomfortable because nobody else in their now small gang knew what had really happened besides the three Curtis brothers. But before he could tell Soda this, Two-Bit had started reading again.

**Marcia grinned at us. She was a little smaller than Cherry. She was cute, but that Cherry Valance was a real looker. "Y'all sit up here with us. You can protect us."  
**

"From what?" Two-Bit demanded. "A baby?"

Ponyboy threw two pillows at him; one for him and one for Johnny because he knew that if Johnny was still alive, he would've done the same thing.

**Johnny and I looked at each other. He grinned suddenly, raising his eyebrows so that they disappeared under his bangs. Would we ever have something to tell the boys! his eyes said plainly. We had picked up two girls, and classy ones at that. Not any greasy broads for us, but real Socs. Soda would flip when I told him.  
**

"I wouldn't flip, I'd faint." Soda said, positive.

**"Okay," I said nonchalantly, "might as well."  
I sat between them, and Johnny sat next to Cherry.  
"How old are y'all?" Marcia asked.  
"Fourteen," I said.  
"Sixteen," said Johnny.  
'That's funny," Marcia said, "I thought you were both..."  
"Sixteen," Cherry finished for her.  
I was grateful. Johnny looked fourteen and he knew it and it bugged him something awful.  
**

"If he wasn't nervous all the time, then maybe he'll look older." Steve said.

"It ain't his fault that he had to live with devils." Two-Bit snapped.

"If Johnny was here, he'd smack you both in the head." Pony said, a little tearfully.

Soda put his arm around him. "Nah kiddo, he's too nice for that."

Tears fell out of Pony's eyes and Darry and Soda hugged him until he was all teared out.

"Thanks guys." Pony whispered.

Two-Bit pretend to tear up. "Soda, can I have a hug?"

Soda threw a pillow at him.

**Johnny grinned. "How come y'all ain't scared of us like you were Dally?"  
**

"Again, who in their right mind would be scared of Pony and Johnny?" Two-Bit asked bewildered.

A pillow quickly greeted him.

**Cherry sighed. "You two are too sweet to scare anyone. First of all, you didn't join in Dallas's dirty talk, and you made him leave us alone. And when we asked you to sit up here with us, you didn't act like it was an invitation to make out for the night. **

Soda turned a sickly green from just the thought of that.

**Besides that, I've heard about Dallas Winston, and he looked as hard as nails and twice as tough. And you two don't look mean."  
"Sure," I said tiredly, "we're young and innocent"  
**

"Exactly! Thank you for agreeing with me Pony!" Two-Bit said.

Ponyboy merely rolled his eyes.

**"No," **

"What?! How dare you disagree with the great Two-Bit!" Two-Bit exclaimed.

Pillows quickly sailed towards him.

**Cherry said slowly, looking at me carefully, "not innocent. You've seen too much to be innocent. Just not... dirty."  
**

Darry nodded his head. "Too true."

**"Dally's okay," Johnny said defensively, and I nodded. You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for the members.**

"Yes, you do." Steve said while nodding his head approvingly.

**If you don't stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang any more. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber. **

There was silence. "Wow, Pony, you're really observant." Steve stammered.

Pony gave him a small smile. "I know."

**"He's tough, but he's a cool old guy."  
"He'd leave you alone if he knew you," I said, and that was true. When Steve's cousin from Kansas came down, Dally was decent to her and watched his swearing. **

"A feat that I thought was impossible." Two-Bit remarked.

**We all did around nice girls who were the cousinly type. I don't know how to explain it- we try to be nice to the girls we see once in awhile, like cousins or the girls in class; but we still watch a nice girl go by on a street corner and say all kinds of lousy stuff about her. **

Everybody sat there, shocked. They never really realized it on how true the statement was but Pony had down pat.

**Don't ask me why. I don't know why.  
**

"First time ever." Two-Bit snorted.

**"Well," Marcia said with finality, "I'm glad he doesn't know us."  
"I kind of admire him,"**

"She what?!" Everybody shouted.

Oh boy, Ponyboy thought. They're really in for it.

**Cherry said softly, so only I heard, and then we settled down to watch the movie.  
Oh, yeah, we found out why they were without a car. They'd come with their boyfriends, but walked out on them when they found out the boys had brought some booze along. The boys had gotten angry and left.  
**

"What's wrong with booze?" Two-Bit asked, shocked.

"Everything." Darry said simply as he thought of how it was a drunk driver that had killed his parents. Booze also had helped anger that Soc Bob until almost drowning Pony. Booze was the problem to everything in his life.

**"I don't care if they did." Cherry sounded annoyed. "It's not my idea of a good time to sit in a drive-in and watch people get drunk."  
You could tell by the way she said it that her idea of a good time was probably, high-class, and probably expensive. They'd decided to stay and see the movie anyway. It was one of those beach-party movies with no plot and no acting but a lot of girls in bikinis and some swinging songs, so it was all right.**

"Oh god, Pony." Soda said while rolling his eyes.

Pony grinned at him.

**We were all four sitting there in silence when suddenly a strong hand came down on Johnny's shoulder and another on mine and a deep voice said, "Okay, greasers, you've had it."  
**

"You were jumped again?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Soda said looking angrily at Pony.

Pony gave him a lazy smile. "Keep reading, right Two-Bit?"

Two-Bit shifted his seat so he was not within grabbing distance from the Curtis brothers and continued to read.

**I almost jumped out of my skin. It was like having some one leap out from behind a door and yell "Boo!" at you.  
I looked fearfully over my shoulder and there was Two-Bit, grinning like a Chessy cat. **

"Two-Bit! Come out from behind the sofa and face me like a true greaser! I'm gonna pound the daylight out ya for scaring my kid brother and Johnny." Soda challenged.

"No way! I ain't stupid; whenever it comes to your kid brother, you'd kill somebody for messing with him. I ain't coming out. I'll read from here." Said a voice behind the sofa.

Everybody erupted into laughter. "You're lucky I'm feeling lazy today, Two-Bit?"

Two-Bit's head popped up from behind the sofa. He cocked his eyebrow. "When are you not feeling lazy, Soda?"

This had earned him a pillow and an empty can of soda to be thrown at his face.

**"Glory, Two-Bit, you scared us to death!" He was good at voice imitations and had sounded for all the world like a snarling Soc. Then I looked at Johnny. His eyes were shut and he was as white as a ghost. His breath was coming in smothered gasps. Two-Bit knew better than to scare Johnny like that. I guess he'd forgotten. He's kind of scatterbrained. **

"Hey! I ain't scatterbrained! I was just deep in thought!" Two-Bit protested.

"Yeah right." Soda mattered.

**Johnny opened his eyes and said weakly, "Hey, Two-Bit."  
Two-Bit messed up his hair, "Sorry, kid," he said, "I forgot."  
He climbed over the chair and plopped down beside Marcia. "Who's this, your great-aunts?"  
"Great-grandmothers, twice removed," Cherry said smoothly.  
**

"Man, I remember that! She had been so smooth! Kinda surprised me that a Soc could be that smooth." Two-Bit said while shaking his head.

"Two-Bit, it's the individual. Not their class." Pony replied sternly.

Two-Bit tilted his head as he looked at Pony. "If you say so kid."

"I know so." Pony muttered.

**I couldn't tell if Two-Bit was drunk or not. It's kind of hard to tell with him- he acts boozed up sometimes even when he's sober. **

"Hey! I ain't that crazy!" Two-Bit protested.

Darry looked at him amazingly. "You're blinder than I am!"

"You ain't blind, Darry." Soda and Pony said at the same exact time.

**He cocked one eyebrow up and the other down, which he always does when something puzzles him, or bothers him, or when he feels like saying some thing smart. **

"So he basically does that all the time." Steve said.

Two-Bit, who had now came out from behind the sofa, threw a pillow.

**"Shoot, you're ninety-six if you're a day."  
"I'm a night," Marcia said brightly.  
Two-Bit stared at her admiringly. "Brother, you're a sharp one. Where'd you two ever get to be picked up by a couple of greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?"  
"We really picked them up," Marcia said. "We're really Arabian slave traders and we're thinking about shanghaiing them. They're worth ten camels apiece at least."  
**

"I did not understand a single word that just came out of their mouth." Soda said.

Everybody nodded their heads. "You'd understand if you guys were just as smart as I am." Two-Bit said.

Darry smacked him in the head.

**"Five," Two-Bit disagreed. "They don't talk Arabian, I don't think. Say somethin' in Arabian, Johnnycake."  
"Aw, cut it out!" Johnny broke in. "Dally was bothering them and when he left they wanted us to sit with them to protect them. Against wisecracking greasers like you, probably."  
Two-Bit grinned, because Johnny didn't usually get sassy like that. We thought we were doing good if we could get him to talk at all. Incidentally, we don't mind being called greaser by another greaser. It's kind of playful then.  
**

"Of course it is, who did you think would read this, an idiot?" Two-Bit demanded.

"Um yeah. You're reading his theme, right?" Steve said coolly.

Two-Bit dropped Pony's theme and jumped on Steve. Darry let them continue their fight for a few minutes and then he separated them.

**"Hey, where is of Dally, anyways?"  
"He went hunting some action- booze or dames or a fight. I hope he don't get jailed again. He just got out"  
**"Only Johnny." Darry said wistfully.

**"He'll probably find the fight," Two-Bit stated cheerfully. "That's why I came over. Mr. Timothy Shepard and Co. are looking for whoever so kindly slashed their car's tires, and since Mr. Curly Shepard spotted Dallas doing it... well... Does Dally have a blade?"  
"Not that I know of," I said. "I think he's got a piece of pipe, but he busted his blade this morning."  
"Good. Tim'll fight fair if Dally don't pull a blade on him. Dally shouldn't have any trouble."  
**

Steve gave his approval. "Now that was a fight." He said dreamingly until Soda slapped him in the back of his head.

**Cherry and Marcia were staring at us. "You don't believe in playing rough or anything, do you?"  
"A fair fight isn't rough;' Two-Bit said. "Blades are rough. So are chains and heaters and pool sticks and rumbles. Skin fighting isn't rough. It blows off steam better than anything.**

Soda and Steve gave their approval as they nodded their heads.

**There's nothing wrong with throwing a few punches. Socs are rough. They gang up on one or two, or they rumble each other with their social clubs. Us greasers usually stick together, but when we do fight among ourselves, it's a fair fight between two. **

"We fight fair. Those Socs really need to pick on people their size." Steve mumbled.

**And Dally deserves whatever he gets, 'cause slashed tires ain't no joke when you've got to work to pay for them. He got spotted, too, and that was his fault. Our one rule, besides Stick together, is Don't get caught. He might get beat up, he might not. Either way there's not going to be any blood feud between our outfit and Shepard's, if we needed them tomorrow they'd show. If Tim beats Dally's head in, and then tomorrow asks us for help in a rumble, we'll show. Dally was getting kicks. He got caught. He pays up. No sweat."  
**

Everybody looked at Two-Bit, surprised.

"Where did you get these extra brain cells from?! Not from the all the booze you consumed, so where?" Soda demanded.

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "You jealous, Curtis?"

"I swear, Mathews, I'll kill you if I hear another word come out of your mouth." Soda said warningly.

Two-Bit looked at him with a lazy smile playing on his lips. "Hi."

"Smartass." Soda said while rolling his eyes.

**"Yeah, boy," Cherry said sarcastically, "real simple."  
"Sure," Marcia said, unconcerned. "If he gets killed or something, you just bury him. No sweat"  
**Everybody howled with laughter.

"She sure was tuff." Two-Bit said wistfully.

**"You dig okay, baby." Two-Bit grinned and lit a cigarette. "Anyone want a weed?"  
I looked at Two-Bit admiringly. He sure put things into words good. Maybe he was still a junior at eighteen and a half, and maybe his sideburns were too long, and maybe he did get boozed up too much, **

"Hey! Stop degrading me, Pony!" Two-Bit exclaimed.

**but he sure understood things.  
**

"Thank you, Pony. You finally say something nice about me." Two-Bit said.

Pony rolled his eyes.

**Cherry and Marcia shook their heads at his offering of cigarettes, but Johnny and I reached for one. Johnny's color was back and his breathing was regular, but his hand was shaking ever so slightly. A cigarette would steady it.  
**Darry frowned. "Ponyboy, you're way too addicted to cigarettes."

"Go through things I've been through and you would be too." Pony defended.

**"Ponyboy, will you come with me to get some popcorn?" Cherry asked.  
I jumped up. "Sure. Y'all want some?"  
**

"Bit too eager, huh?" Steve smirked.

Pony threw a pillow at him and Soda glared at Steve.

**"I do," said Marcia. She was finishing the Coke Dally had given her. I realized then that Marcia and Cherry weren't alike. Cherry had said she wouldn't drink Dally's Coke if she was starving, and she meant it. It was the principle of the thing. But Marcia saw no reason to throw away a perfectly good, free Coke.  
**

"If you look at it that way, Marcia's way makes sense." Soda said thoughtfully.

Two-Bit pretended to faint. "You said something that required thinking! I think the world's ending!"

Soda threw a pillow at Two-Bit.

**"Me too," said Two-Bit. He flipped me a fifty cent piece. "Get Johnny some, too. I'm buyin'," he added as Johnny started to reach into his jeans pocket.  
We went to the concession stand and, as usual, there was a line a mile long, so we had to wait. Quite a few kids turned to look at us- you didn't see a kid grease and a Socy cheerleader together often. Cherry didn't seem to notice.  
**

"Now that would be a weird sight." Steve mused. "I can't even picture that."

**"Your friend- the one with the sideburns- he's okay?"  
"He ain't dangerous like Dallas if that's what you mean. He's okay."  
**Two-Bit sniffed. "What a way to make me look tough, Pony."

"Oh god, Two-Bit." Ponyboy said.

**She smiled and her eyes showed that her mind was on something else. "Johnny... he's been hurt bad sometime, hasn't he?" It was more of a statement than a question. "Hurt and scared."  
**

Everybody winced as they thought of Johnny. They thought of the long scar on the side of his face and they were quickly angered at the thought of the Socs that did that to him.

**"It was the Socs," I said nervously, because there were plenty of Socs milling around and some of them were giving me funny looks, as if I shouldn't be with Cherry or something. And I don't like to talk about it either- Johnny getting beat up, I mean. But I started in, talking a little faster than I usually do because I don't like to think about it either.**

"Oh god, we're going to have relive this." Two-Bit groaned and everybody's face ashen. Ponyboy sat closer to his brothers and they put their arms around him.

IT WAS ALMOST four months ago. I had walked down to the DX station to get a bottle of pop and to see Steve and Soda, because they'll always buy me a couple of bottles

"No wonder we keep running short on money." Darry muttered, hoping to lighten the tension. It worked; Steve had thrown a pillow at him.

**and let me help work on the cars. I don't like to go on weekends because then there is usually a bunch of girls down there flirting with Soda- all kinds of girls, Socs too. I don't care too much for girls yet. Soda says I'll grow out of it. He did.  
**

"You will kiddo, I promise ya." Soda said as he ruffled his kid brother's hair.

Pony blushed as he thought of the new girl in his English (**A/N: Thinking of doing a fanfic of this; tell me what you guys think and if enough people are interested, I'll start it.) **Soda had no idea how right he was.

**It was a warmish spring day with the sun shining bright, but it was getting chilly and dark by the time we started for home. We were walking because we had left Steve's car at the station. At the corner of our block there's a wide, open field where we play football and hang out, and it's often a site for rumbles and fist fights. We were passing it, kicking rocks down the street and finishing our last bottle of Pepsi, when Steve noticed something lying on the ground. He picked it up. It was Johnny's blue-jeans jacket- the only jacket he had.  
**

"That's so sad." Soda said softly. Everybody hung their heads as memories of Johnny flooded their minds.

**"Looks like Johnny forgot his jacket," Steve said, slinging it over his shoulder to take it by Johnny's house. Suddenly he stopped and examined it more carefully. There was a stain the color of rust across the collar. He looked at the ground. There were some more stains on the grass. He looked up and across the field with a stricken expression on his face. I think we all heard the low moan and saw the dark motionless hump on the other side of the lot at the same time.**

Everybody prepared themselves as they listened, inevitably, of what had happened to Johnny.

**Soda reached him first. Johnny was lying face down on the ground. Soda turned him over gently, and I nearly got sick. Someone had beaten him badly.  
**A couple of tears fell out of Pony's eyes and Darry tightened his grip on his kid brother.

**We were used to seeing Johnny banged up- his father clobbered him around a lot, and although it made us madder than heck, we couldn't do anything about it. **

"I feel like going there myself and clobber his father myself." Two-Bit muttered darkly.

**But those beatings had been nothing like this. Johnny's face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone. He would carry that scar all his life. His white T-shirt was splattered with blood.**

"For once, I hate the fact that you're so descriptive, Pony." Two-Bit groaned.

**I just stood there, trembling with sudden cold. I thought he might be dead; surely nobody could be beaten like that and live. Steve closed his eyes for a second and muffled a groan as he dropped on his knees beside Soda.  
Somehow the gang sensed what had happened. **

"Of course, we're a pack. We know if the other had been hurt." This surprisingly came from Steve. But nobody disagreed with him.

**Two-Bit was suddenly there beside me, and for once his comical grin was gone and his dancing gray eyes were stormy.**

"Why would I be smiling? Common sense, Pony." Two-Bit said.

**Darry had seen us from our porch and ran toward us, suddenly skidding to a halt. Dally was there, too, swearing under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York's West Side. Why did he look sick now?  
**

"Because he loved him." Soda said softly. But only soft enough for Pony to hear and Pony nodded as he agreed with Soda's statement.

**"Johnny?" Soda lifted him up and held him against his shoulder. He gave the limp body a slight shake. "Hey, Johnnycake."  
Johnny didn't open his eyes, but there came a soft ques tion. "Soda?"  
"Yeah, it's me," Sodapop said. "Don't talk. You're gonna be okay."  
"There was a whole bunch of them," Johnny went on, swallowing, ignoring Soda's command. **

Soda sighed. "Nobody ever listens to me."

**"A blue Mustang full... I got so scared..." He tried to swear, but suddenly started crying, fighting to control himself, then sobbing all the more because he couldn't. I had seen Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man and never let out a whimper. That made it worse to see him break now. **

Everybody shifted uncomfortably in their seats and Two-Bit was looking murderously at Pony's notebook.

**Soda just held him and pushed Johnny's hair back out of his eyes. "It's okay, Johnnycake, they're gone now. It's okay."  
Finally, between sobs, Johnny managed to gasp out his story. He had been hunting our football to practice a few kicks when a blue Mustang had pulled up beside the lot. There were four Socs in it. They had caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his hand- that's what had cut Johnny up so badly. It wasn't just that they had beaten him half to death- he could take that. They had scared him. They had threatened him with everything under the sun. **

"I swear, after this I'm gonna kill those Socs. I'll kill them every one of them, I'll-" Soda had said and then broke up crying. Pony hugged him and Darry rubbed his back as Steve said that they'll both bust those Socs.

**Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time. Living in those conditions might have turned someone else rebellious and bitter; it was killing Johnny. **

"He was too good to live, just too good." Two-Bit said as he started tearing up. Then he smiled. "Johnny would've yelled at us for being such babies." He said as he smiled weakly. Soda gave a small laugh and hugged Two-Bit.

**He had never been a coward. He was a good man in a rumble. He stuck up for the gang and kept his mouth shut good around cops. But after the night of the beating, Johnny was jumpier than ever. I didn't think he'd ever get over it. Johnny never walked by himself after that. And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. **

"Thank god he had been too." Soda said as he thought of that terrible night. Then Soda started tearing up again. "I owe Johnny my life. He saved my kid brother when I couldn't be there." Pony hugged him as Darry gulped.

It had been his fault, he thought miserably. Johnny would still be here laughing with us and Dally would still be here getting in trouble if he just hadn't slapped Pony. The guilt started gnawing on him and he let some tears slip. But Pony had saw and he hugged Darry tightly.

"Darry, I'm your brother. I know how you're feeling weather you like or not. Stop feeling guilty. It's not your fault." Pony said firmly.

Darry felt kinda better but he still didn't believe him.

**He'd use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much. He would kill the next person who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body...**

"And not over mine." Two-Bit said firmly. Everybody was quick to agree with him.

**I HAD NEARLY forgotten that Cherry was listening to me. But when I came back to reality and looked at her, I was startled to find her as white as a sheet.**  
**"All Socs aren't like that," she said. "You have to believe me, Ponyboy. Not all of us are like that."**

"Ya right." Steve snorted.

**"Sure," I said.  
"That's like saying all you greasers are like Dallas Winston. I'll bet he's jumped a few people."  
I digested that. It was true. Dally had jumped people. He had told us stories about muggings in New York that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But not all of us were that bad.  
**"I thought I told Dally not to tell you any of them!" Darry said furiously.

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "Since when did Dally ever listen to anybody?"

**Cherry no longer looked sick, only sad. "I'll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side Socs. I'll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We have troubles you've never even heard of. You want to know something?" She looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over."  
**

Everybody snorted. "Sure, they got so many problems." Soda said as he rolled his eyes.

Ponyboy just shook his head.

**"I believe you," I said. "We'd better get back out there with the popcorn or Two-Bit'll think I ran off with his money."  
**

"And I'd have killed you." Two-Bit added.

**We went back and watched the movie through again. Marcia and Two-Bit were hitting it off fine. Both had the same scatterbrained sense of humor.**

Steve snorted. "I don't think anybody could be as scatterbrained as Two-Bit."

Two-Bit threw a pillow at him.

**But Cherry and Johnny and I just sat there, looking at the movie and not talking. I quit worrying about everything and thought about how nice it was to sit with a girl without having to listen to her swear or to beat her off with a club. **

Darry looked surprised. "When did you ever need to do that?"

Pony just shrugged.

**I knew Johnny liked it, too. He didn't talk to girls much. Once, while Dallas was in reform school, Sylvia had started hanging on to Johnny and sweet talking him and Steve got hold of her and told her if she tried any of her tricks with Johnny he'd personally beat the tar out of her.**

"Yes Stevie!" Soda said as he high fived his best friend.

**Then he gave Johnny a lecture on girls and how a sneaking little broad like Sylvia would get him into a lot of trouble. As a result, Johnny never spoke to girls much, but whether that was because he was scared of Steve or because he was shy, I couldn't tell.  
**

"I hope I didn't scare the kid." Steve said looking surprised.

**I got the same lecture from Two-Bit after we'd picked up a couple of girls downtown one day. I thought it was funny, because girls are one subject even Darry thinks I use my head about. And it really had been funny, because Two-Bit was half crocked when he gave me the lecture, and he told me some stories that about made me want to crawl under the floor or something.**

"TWO-BIT!" Darry hollered. "WHY IN THIS ALMIGHTY WORLD WOULD YOU TELL PONYBOY THAT?"

Two-Bit went back to hiding behind the sofa. "I was drunk!" He protested.

"I ain't a kid, Darry." Pony said while he glared at him.

**But he had been talking about girls like Sylvia and the girls he and Dally and the rest picked up at drive-ins and downtown; he never said anything about Socy girls. So I figured it was all right to be sitting there with them. Even if they did have their own troubles.**

"You're allowed to sit with any girl, Pony as long they're not trouble." Soda said firmly.

**I really couldn't see what Socs would have to sweat about- good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs- Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky.  
I know better now.**

"Actually, those troubles don't sound too bad." Steve said.

Ponyboy started to say something but at the moment his front door burst opened.

"Hey Curtis, I'm gonna have to stay here for the night." Everybody looked up to see Tim Shepard standing there, breathing heavily.

**A/N: Yeah, it's me again. I added Tim like my lovely reviewers had asked for. This may not be at it's best because I just don't feel good after what happened with me and, well you know. Please be goo readers and leave me with tons reviews. It'll make me feel better. Thnak you guys though, for your great reviews and suggestions. Keep them up. **

**Also, I'm curious as to why you guys like the Outsiders. I loved it 'cause I've always wanted an older brother and I just fell in love with the Curtis brothers. Ponyboy sure is lucky. Tell me why you guys like the Outsiders.**

**Remember: More review=faster updates. ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it took so long! I've been really busy and I tried to squeeze some time between my tight schedule for you guys! Thank you for your reviews and comments on why you guys like The Outsiders! I asked my friends and school and the girls replies were: "The gang was so hot! I died when I was Rob Lowe shirtless! (bitch, please) and the boys replied:"Because there were a lot of fights!" **

**You're comments were real and I finally felt I could connect with people out there! You guys are tuff! ;)**

**I also would like to thank xXxAngel-With-A-ShotgunxXx with all the lovely help about Tim and Curly Shepard. Thank you soo much! Keep up with great suggestion guys! They really help!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders because if I did, I'd make Soda go back to school for Pony's sake.**

Darry quickly got to his feet. "Tim, what's wrong?"

Tim shrugged, looking amused. "I got into some fight with Socs and then some backup came. I ain't stupid; even I know it ain't fair for the odds to be one against 5. So I ran and your house is the closest haven." Tim said nonchalantly as he dropped himself into an armchair. Then he looked around. "What are you guys doing anyway?"

"Reading Ponyboy's theme." Two-Bit piped up.

Tim looked at them incredulously. "_Why?"_

Steve smirked. "Because we're mentioned and we want to know what happened to Pony and Johnny after Johnny knifed that Soc."

Tim suddenly looked interested. "You mean we're going to hear about that night?! I'm in."

Everybody rolled their eyes and Two-Bit handed Steve Pony's notebook to read.

"Okay, here we go-"Steve said.

**Chapter 3**

"Wait, hold on a sec." Steve said.

Soda looked irked. "What is it?"

"Tim, you have green eyes." Steve pointed out.

"No shit Sherlock." Tim replied.

But Soda understood. One look at Pony's red face and Soda was laughing his head off. Steve joined in with him while Darry, Two-Bit and Tim look on confusingly.

"What the hell-"Darry starts until he gets it. Ponyboy had said he disliked guys with green eyes and here sitting in front of him was a green eyed Tim Shepard. Darry burst out booming laughter and Two-Bit caught on and laughed.

"I don't get it. Why does me having green eyes make you greasers laugh?" Tim asked, annoyed. Ponyboy turned a brighter shade of red and everybody doubled over from their laughter.

"Come on, guys! Let's continue reading!" An embarrassed Ponyboy said.

The gang wiped away their tears and continued reading.

**AFTER THE MOVIE was over it suddenly came to us that Cherry and Marcia didn't have a way to get home. **

"It just came to you, huh?" Tim said while rolling his eyes.

"We were busy!" Two-Bit protested.

"Doing what? Staring into a certain Soc's eye?" Steve teased.

Two-Bit glared at him. "I'll kill you Randle, I swear."

**Two-Bit gallantly offered to walk them home- the west side of town was only about twenty miles away-**

"Only 20 miles?!" Soda asked incredulously. "Are you crazy?"

Ponyboy shrugged. "I run in track; what did you expect me to think?"

Soda shook his head.

**but they wanted to call their parents and have them come and get them. **

"I don't blame them." Steve muttered.

**Two-Bit finally talked them into letting us drive them home in his car. I think they were still half-scared of us. They were getting over it, though, as we walked to Two-Bit's house to pick up the car. It seemed funny to me that Socs- if these girls were any example- were just like us. **

"Are you mental?! Socs and greasers are nothing alike! We've got nothing in common with them!" Tim exclaimed.

"Umm, we're both human." Two-Bit volunteered.

"Can it, Mathews. They're barely human." Tim muttered.

**They liked the Beatles and thought Elvis Presley was out, and we thought the Beatles were rank and that Elvis was tuff, but that seemed the only difference to me.**

"Really, Curtis? That's the only difference you can think of? 'Cause I can think of a billion more." Tim said.

Pony looked defiantly at Tim. "They really are similar to us; you just gotta meet them."

Tim looked incredulously at the youngest Curtis. Did he forget what those Socs did to his buddies? What they did to him?

**Of course greasy girls would have acted a lot tougher, but there was a basic sameness. I thought maybe it was money that separated us.  
**"That and we have a soul." Tim muttered.

Darry raised his eyebrow. "Ever met Dallas Winston? He was a good buddy but he done some things that would have made the hair in the back of your neck fall off. And guess what? He was a greaser."

Tim knew better than to contradict Darry Curtis. He may have busted his head a couple of times but he wasn't _that_ stupid. But still what Darry said…..

**"No," Cherry said slowly when I said this. "It's not just money. Part of it is, but not all. You greasers have a different set of values. You're more emotional. We're sophisticated- cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us. **

Everyone, even Tim, digested that.

"You know, she's right." Steve said with awe.

Ponyboy sniffed. "Of course she was, you dimwit."

**You know, sometimes I'll catch myself talking to a girl-friend, and realize I don't mean half of what I'm saying. I don't really think a beer blast on the river bottom is super-cool, but I'll rave about one to a girl-friend just to be saying something." She smiled at me. "I never told anyone that. I think you're the first person I've ever really gotten through to."  
**"Amen." Soda muttered.

Ponyboy glanced at him and grinned.

**She was coming through to me all right, probably because I was a greaser, and younger; she didn't have to keep her guard up with me.  
**"Nah, Pony. You really do have something special about you Ponyboy that makes everybody want to tell you their problems." Soda said sincerely.

Ponyboy blushed and shyly said his thanks.

**"Rat race is a perfect name for it," she said. "We're always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool we could."  
**"I never really thought of it that way." Steve said uncomfortably.

Tim tried to block every word in this theme because it was contradicting everything he ever believed. Socs were supposed to be cold, mean and stone hearted. Not sympathetic and humane like Cherry. Yet, he still found himself wondering-

No, he thought firmly. Socs will always be Socs. There is no if in this equation.

**That was the truth. Socs were always behind a wall of aloofness, careful not to let their real selves show through. I had seen a social-club rumble once. The Socs even fought coldly and practically and impersonally.  
**Everybody shivered involuntarily.

"They fought like freaking robots." Tim muttered.

**"That's why we're separated," I said. "It's not money, it's feeling- you don't feel anything and we feel too violently."  
"And"- she was trying to hide a smile- "that's probably why we take turns getting our names in the paper."  
Two-Bit and Marcia weren't even listening to us. They were engaged in some wild conversation that made no sense to anyone but themselves.  
**"I can actually believe that." Soda muttered.

**I have quite a rep for being quiet, almost as quiet as Johnny. Two-Bit always said he wondered why Johnny and I were such good buddies. "You must make such interestin' conversation," he'd say, cocking one eyebrow, "you keepin' your mouth shut and Johnny not sayin' anything." **

Everybody cracked up and Ponyboy smiled. If they only knew how much we talk, Ponyboy thought.

**But Johnny and I understood each other without saying anything. Nobody but Soda could really get me talking. Till I met Cherry Valance.  
**

"Soda, you got competition!" Steve laughed.

"Never." Soda said defiantly.

**I don't know why I could talk to her; maybe for the same reason she could talk to me. The first thing I knew I was telling her about Mickey Mouse, Soda's horse. I had never told anyone about Soda's horse. It was personal.  
**"Why would you tell a Soc something personal?" Tim demanded.

"It's okay." Soda said sadly as he thought Mickey Mouse. Ponyboy sensed this hugged his older brother while Darry patted his shoulder.

**Soda had this buckskin horse, only it wasn't his. It belonged to a guy who kept it at the stables where Soda used to work. Mickey Mouse was Soda's horse, though. The first day Soda saw him he said, "There's my horse," and I never doubted it.**

"He'll always be mine." Soda said angrily. Everybody quickly agreed, even Tim, even though he had no idea what they were talking. He just knew not to mess with a Curtis when they were emotional like that.

**I was about ten then. Sodapop is horse crazy. I mean it. He's always hanging around stables and rodeos, hopping on a horse every time he gets a chance. When I was ten I thought that Mickey Mouse and Soda looked alike and were alike. **

Soda looked at his kid brother. "How in this almighty world do I look like a horse?!"

Pony just grinned. "Keep reading."

**Mickey Mouse was a dark-gold buckskin, sassy and ornery, not much more than a colt. **

"That does not explain anything!" Soda cried.

**He'd come when Soda called him. He wouldn't come for anyone else. That horse loved Soda. He'd stand there and chew on Soda's sleeve or collar. Gosh, but Sodapop was crazy about that horse.**

"How could you not?" Soda demanded.

Darry patted his shoulder. "It's okay, little buddy."

**He went down to see him every day. Mickey Mouse was a mean horse: He kicked other horses and was always getting into trouble. **

"Good ol' Mickey Mouse." Soda said wistfully.

"Err, not to interrupt your daydream, but why did you name a horse Mickey Mouse?" Two-Bit questioned. "I mean, Mickey's a mouse."

One look from Soda and Two-Bit knew he said the wrong thing. Two-Bit jumped but Soda had already pinned him to the ground and both of them were soon wrestling. It took both Darry and Tim to separate the greasers and when they did; Soda was still glaring at Two-Bit. Steve quickly started reading again to divert Soda's attention.

**"I've got me an ornery pony," Soda'd tell him, rubbing his neck. "How come you're so mean, Mickey Mouse?" Mickey Mouse would just chew on his sleeve and sometimes nip him. But not hard. He may have belonged to another guy, but he was Soda's horse.  
"Does Soda still have him?" Cherry asked.  
"He got sold," I said. **

Ponyboy and Darry quickly hugged their brother as they saw the devasted look on his face.

**"They came and got him one day and took him off. He was a real valuable horse. Pure quarter."  
**

Soda blinked. "How did you remember that, Pony? I don't even remember that."

"You're kid brother got a memory like a bank vault." Steve muttered.

**She didn't say anything else and I was glad. I couldn't tell her that Soda had bawled all night long after they came and got Mickey Mouse. I had cried, too, if you want to know the truth, because Soda never really wanted any thing except a horse, and he'd lost his. Soda had been twelve then, going-on-thirteen. He never let on to Mom and Dad how he felt, though, because we never had enough money and usually we had a hard time making ends meet. When you're thirteen in our neighborhood you know the score. I kept saving my money for a year, thinking that someday I could buy Mickey Mouse back for Soda. You're not so smart at ten.  
**

"You don't say." Two-Bit murmured.

But Soda looked shocked but then quickly gathered his kid in a bear hug."I can't believe it you did that, Pony! You really didn't save to your money for me! Gosh but I thought you were trying to get rich fast!"

Pony looked embarrassed and mumbled it was no problem. As Tim watched on, he felt a stab of longing for his kid brother.

**"You read a lot, don't you, Ponyboy?" Cherry asked.  
I was startled. "Yeah. Why?"  
She kind of shrugged. "I could just tell. I'll bet you watch sunsets, too." She was quiet for a minute after I nodded. "I used to watch them, too, before I got so busy..."  
I pictured that, or tried to. Maybe Cherry stood still and watched the sun set while she was supposed to be taking the garbage out. Stood there and watched and forgot everything else until her big brother screamed at her to hurry up.**

Darry winced. He had really thought Pony was just delaying his chores and his homework. He opened his mouth to apologize but one look from Ponyboy and he knew his breath would be wasted. Darry couldn't help but grin at Pony's stubborness which was so much like his own.

** I shook my head. It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and, the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.  
**

"Nah, kid there's a separate sun for Socs and Greasers." Two-Bit said while rolling his eyes.

Ponyboy looked around trying to find a pillow to throw at Two-Bit but he noticed that _all _the pillows were already surrounding him. Two-Bit, who had catched Pony's eyes, grinned.

**Marcia suddenly gasped. "Cherry, look what's coming."  
We all looked and saw a blue Mustang coming down the street. Johnny made a small noise in his throat and when I looked at him he was white.  
Marcia was shifting nervously. "What are we going to do?"  
**

Everybody in the room tensed up.

"Those dirty Socs better keep their hands off my kid brother and Johnny." Darry growled.

"Hey! What about me?!" Two-Bit wailed.

Darry didn't even glance at him; he was too busy planning murder plots if those Socs even thought about harming Pony.

**Cherry bit a fingernail. "Stand here," she said. "There isn't much else we can do."  
"Who is it?" Two-Bit asked. "The F.B.I.?"  
**

"Real classy, Two-Bit." Steve said with an eye roll.

**"No," Cherry said bleakly, "it's Randy and Bob."  
"And," Two-Bit added grimly, "a few other of the socially elite checkered-shirt set"  
"Your boyfriends?" Johnny's voice was steady, but standing as close to him as I was, I could see he was trembling. I wondered why- Johnny was a nervous wreck, but he never was that jumpy.  
**

"Wait those Socs were driving a blue mustang?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, why?" Pony asked, puzzled.

"Those were the Socs who had jumped him!" Steve exclaimed.

Two-Bit rolled his eyes. "Glad you finally caught up, buddy. Where have you been?"

"Wait, you guys knew about this?" Steve said sounding surprised.

"Why have you been?!" Soda asked his buddy.

**Cherry started walking down the street. "Maybe they won't see us. Act normal."  
"Who's acting?" Two-Bit grinned. "I'm a natural normal."  
"Wish it was the other way around," I muttered, and Two-Bit said, "Don't get mouthy, Ponyboy"  
**

Everybody roared with laughter. "Oh boy, Ponyboy. I never knew this side to you." Steve said while grinning.

"Maybe if you stop hating then you'd know me." Pony muttered. Soda, who heard this, frowned at him.

**The Mustang passed us slowly and went right on by. Marcia sighed in relief. 'That was close."  
Cherry turned to me. "Tell me about your oldest brother. You don't talk much about him."  
**

Darry winced, knew that whatever description coming was not going to be good one. Pony, who knew what was coming next, sat closer to Darry and gave him a reassuring smile as if to say that was then, this is now.

**I tried to think of something to say about Darry, and shrugged. "What's to talk about? He's big and handsome and likes to play football."  
**

Everybody looked relieved. They had really thought it was going to be another anti-Darry rage. Tim though was indiginant for he didn't hear what Pony had said before about Darry.

"Really, Curtis? You live with a guy for 14 years of your life and that's all you got to say?" Tim said.

Two-Bit and Pony gave meaningful glances at each other. They knew what was coming up next and they knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

**"I mean, what's he like? I feel like I know Soda from the way you talk about him; tell me about Darry." And when I was silent she urged me on. "Is he wild and reckless like Soda? Dreamy, like you?" **

"Ponyboy dreamy? Know that's different." Steve snorted

Soda swatted his arm in defense of his kid brother.

**My face got hot as I bit my lip. Darry... what was Darry like? "He's..." I started to say he was a good ol' guy but I couldn't. **

Steve groaned. Ponyboy looked sheepishly at Darry and was upset to see Darry looking devastated.

"Dare, I don't mean any of these things. I swear." Pony said sincerely.

Darry smiled at him knowing that everything had been resolved between him and Pony.

**I burst out bitterly: "He's not like Sodapop at all and he sure ain't like me. He's hard as a rock and about as human. He's got eyes exactly like frozen ice. He thinks I'm a pain in the neck. He likes Soda- everybody likes Soda- but he can't stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in a home somewhere, and he'd do it, too, if Soda'd let him."  
**

Darry was shocked, though. He never knew this was what Pony thought of him. "Ponyboy, I would _never,_ and I mean never ship you off to a boy's home, Soda or not. Ponyboy, look at me." For Ponyboy had looked away and couldn't look Darry in the eye. "I love you and I'll always love you. We might be different but that changes nothing. Ya dig?"

Ponyboy nodded and gave him a small smile. Darry reached over and hugged him like he never had before.

"The Curtis Brother Love! It's too much for my fragile heart!" Two-Bit wailed as he fell into Tim's lap.

Tim pushed him off and glared at him. "Ever heard the saying, 'silence is golden', Mathews?"

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow. "Ever heard the saying 'every rule has an exception?, Shepard?"

Tim glared at Two-Bit. "I'll kill you, Mathews. I swear by it."

Soda sighed. "If you're going to kill each other, please do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

**Two-Bit and Johnny were staring at me now. "No..." Two-Bit said, dumfounded. "No, Ponyboy, that ain't right... you got it wrong..."  
**

"For once, Two-Bit's right." Steve murmured.

"Hey!" Two-Bit protested. "Stop picking on me!"

**"Gee," Johnny said softly, "I thought you and Darry and Soda got along real well..."  
"Well, we don't," I snapped, feeling silly. I knew my ears were red by the way they were burning, and I was thankful for the darkness. I felt stupid. **

Oh no, Steve thought. An embarrassed greaser is a dangerous greaser.

**Compared to Johnny's home, mine was heaven. At least Darry didn't get drunk and beat me up or run me out of the house, and I had Sodapop to talk things over with.**

Soda swelled with pride. "I'll always be there for you to talk to, Pony."

** That made me mad, I mean making a fool of myself in front of everyone. "An' you can shut your trap, Johnny Cade, 'cause we all know you ain't wanted at home, either. And you can't blame them."  
**

Darry and Soda both slapped Ponyboy on the back of his head.

"Hey!" Ponyboy protested. "I already got punished for this."

**Johnny's eyes went round and he winced as though I'd belted him. Two-Bit slapped me a good one across the side of the head, and hard.  
**

"See?" Ponyboy said.

**"Shut your mouth, kid. If you wasn't Soda's kid brother I'd beat the tar out of you. You know better than to talk to Johnny like that." He put his hand on Johnny's shoulder. "He didn't mean it, Johnny."  
**

"I don't mean that. I really wouldn't beat the tar out of you even if you weren't Soda's kid brother." Two-Bit said sincerely.

"Thanks, Two-Bit." Ponyboy said with an eye roll.

**"I'm sorry," I said miserably. Johnny was my buddy. "I was just mad."  
"It's the truth," Johnny said with a bleak grin. "I don't care."  
"Shut up talkin' like that," Two-Bit said fiercely, messing up Johnny's hair. "We couldn't get along without you, so you can just shut up!"  
**

The truth of Two-Bit's statement hit them hard. Some how, miraculously, they had been able to continue their lives but just barely. Tim looked on with pity at the torn apart gang who once were so big and strong but now seem torn and small.

**"It ain't fair!" I cried passionately. "It ain't fair that we have all the rough breaks!" I didn't know exactly what I meant, but I was thinking about Johnny's father being a drunk and his mother a selfish slob, and Two-Bit's mother being a barmaid to support him and his kid sister after their father ran out on them, **

Two-Bit gulped. He loved his mother and sister to the end of the world and back. He had always felt so upset when his little sister would ask him why he liked to get drunk and he felt heartbroken knowing he wasn't even helping his poor mother support their family even though he was old enough and had enough time to get a job.

**and Dally- wild, cunning Dally- turning into a hoodlum because he'd die if he didn't, and Steve- his hatred for his father coming out in his soft, bitter voice and the violence of his temper. **

Steve somewhat surprised to hear that Pony had able to see right through his facade. He always thought he hid his anger well, but he guessed, when it came to his old man who couldn't help but feel hatred bubbling up inside him.

**Sodapop... a dropout so he could get a job and keep me in school, **

Soda dropped his head in shame and Pony punched him affectionately.

**and Darry, getting old before his time trying to run a family and hold on to two jobs and never having any fun**

"I don't mind it, little buddy." Darry said while giving Pony a small smile.

**- while the Socs had so much spare time and money that they jumped us and each other for kicks, had beer blasts and river-bottom parties because they didn't know what else to do. Things were rough all over, all right. All over the East Side. It just didn't seem right to me.  
**

"Finally!" Tim shouted. "You see things my way!"

**"I know," Two-Bit said with a good-natured grin, "the chips are always down when it's our turn, but that's the way things are. Like it or lump it."  
Cherry and Marcia didn't say anything. I guess they didn't know what to say. We had forgotten they were there. Then the blue Mustang was coming down the street again, more slowly.  
"Well," Cherry said resignedly, "they've spotted us."  
**

The group immediately tensed up.

Two-Bit, sensing the gang's sudden reaction, was furious. "Hey! I was there. Johnny and Ponyboy were well-protected!"

"Yeah right." Steve muttered and Two-Bit took one of the many pillows that were surrounding him and threw at him.

**The Mustang came to a halt beside us, and the two boys in the front seat got out. They were Socs all right. One had on a white shirt and a madras ski jacket, and the other a light yellow shirt and a wine-colored sweater. I looked at their clothes and realized for the first time that evening that all I had was a pair of jeans and Soda's old navy sweat shirt with the sleeves cut short. I swallowed. Two-Bit started to tuck in his shirttail, but stopped himself in time; he just flipped up the collar of his black leather jacket and lit a cigarette. The Socs didn't even seem to see us.  
**

"Of course not." Tim said. "We're just white trash to them, well I'll show them white trash.." Tim said whil cursing like he never done before.

**"Cherry, Marcia, listen to us..." the handsome black-haired Soc with the dark sweater began.  
Johnny was breathing heavily and I noticed he was staring at the Soc's hand. He was wearing three heavy rings. I looked quickly at Johnny, an idea dawning on me. I remembered that it was a blue Mustang that had pulled up beside the vacant lot and that Johnny's face had been cut up by someone wearing rings...  
**

Steve started breathing heavily. "I'll kill him, I swear, I'll kill him."

"Umm, hate to break it to you but Johnny beat you there." Two-Bit said uncomfortably.

Steve blinked. "Wait, this Soc was Bob?"

Soda looked towards the heavens. "Dear lord, please help me."

**The Soc's voice broke into my thoughts: "...just because we got a little drunk last time..."  
Cherry looked mad. "A little? You call reeling and passing out in the streets 'a little'? Bob, I told you, I'm never going out with you while you're drinking, and I mean it. Too many things could happen while you're drunk. It's me or the booze."  
**

Tim nodded approvingly. "Now that's a tuff Soc." Then he blinked in horror. Tim had actually complimeted a Soc, him, Tim Shepard said someting nice about a Soc!

"I meant-" Tim started but Ponyboy interrupted him.

"We know what you mean." Pony said knowingly.

Tim glared at him. "Can it, Curtis."

**The other Soc, a tall guy with a semi-Beatle haircut, turned to Marcia. "Baby, you know we don't get drunk very often..." When she only gave him a cold stare he got angry. "And even if you are mad at us, that's no reason to go walking the streets with these bums."  
**

"Who the hell do they think they're calling bums?!" Tim shouted. "After this, I'm seriously going back and kicking some Soc ass. Any of ya'll wanna join?"

"We're right behind you." Soda said angrily.

**Two-Bit took a long drag on his cigarette, Johnny slouched and hooked his thumbs in his pockets, and I stiffened. We can look meaner than anything when we want to- looking tough comes in handy. Two-Bit put his elbow on Johnny's shoulder. "Who you callin' bums?"  
"Listen, greasers, we got four more of us in the back seat..."  
"Then pity the back seat," Two-Bit said to the sky.  
**

"For once, I appreciate your cockiness." Steve said.

"You should always appreciate it." Two-Bit replied, sounding somewhat hurt.

**"If you're looking for a fight..."  
Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow, but it only made him look more cool. "You mean if I'm looking for a good jumping, you outnumber us, so you'll give it to us? Well..." He snatched up an empty bottle, busted off the end, and gave it to me, then reached in his back pocket and flipped out his switchblade. "Try it, pal."  
**

"Why would ya give Pony a busted bottle? He would never use it." Soda asked.

"Actually he did but not now." Two-Bit replied.

"What?! When?" Soda said, shocked.

"Keep reading." Both Two-Bit and Pony said.

"I'm kinda disturbed that Two-Bit seems to know my kid brother better than I do." Soda whispered to Steve.

"You and me both." Steve whispered back.

**"No!" Cherry cried. "Stop it!" She looked at Bob. "We'll ride home with you. Just wait a minute."  
"Why?" Two-Bit demanded. "We ain't scared of them."  
Cherry shuddered. "I can't stand fights... I can't stand them..."  
**

Tim raised his eyebrow. "First time I ever heard a Soc say that."

**I pulled her to one side. "I couldn't use this," I said, dropping the pop bottle. "I couldn't ever cut anyone..." I had to tell her that, because I'd seen her eyes when Two-Bit flicked out his switch.  
**

"I told ya! I do know my kid brother!" Soda said proudly.

"Ya but I'm telling ya'll, he threatned some Socs with a busted soda bottle once, right Stevie?" Two-Bit asked.

Suddenly Steve remembered. "Oh yeah! You sure was tough, Pony."

"Why am I hearing this now?" Soda said angrily and Darry nodded his head to ahow that he agreed with Soda.

**"I know," she said quietly, "but we'd better go with them. Ponyboy... I mean... if I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or anything, but..."  
**

"Now that's just fucked up." Darry said angrily. "You're great buddy to be with Pony, don't let some Soc tell you otherwise."

Pony smiled at him. "I know Darry, I know."

**"I know," I said.  
"We couldn't let our parents see us with you all. You're a nice boy and everything..."  
"It's okay," I said, wishing I was dead and buried somewhere. Or at least that I had on a decent shirt. "We aren't in the same class. Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too."  
**

"Now that was just weird. Why did you say that, Pony?" Steve asked.

"To remind her that we live in the same world despite our differences." Pony replied.

"Wish it was the other way." Tim muttered.

**She looked at me quickly. "I could fall in love with Dallas Winston," she said. "I hope I never see him again, or I will."  
She left me standing there with my mouth dropped open, and the blue Mustang vroomed off.  
**

"WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT DOES SHE MEAN BY FALLING IN LOVE WITH DALLY?! IS SHE CRAZY?" Steve screamed.

Tim and Darry was just way too shock for words while Soda and Two-Bit begged Pony to see if actually recalled it right. Through all the commotion, nobody heard the front door opening until a voice behind them said,

"Well, there you are Tim!"

**A/N: Just to let you guys know, updates might not be regular because I'm soo busy with school and the works. But I'll try to get the work done! I'll also try to write that Fanfic about the new girl in Pony's English class because I have got great sceanarios stuck in my head and I need to get them out! ;) Thank you guys for all the lovely reviews and thank you Crystalteen for being there for me!**

**You know the deal: more reviews = Faster updates! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I just want to give another birthday shout to my greatest friend ever, Peter McQuade! I love you, Peter! Stay Gold.**

**Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long to get this up. My teachers are becoming merciless when it comes to homework and I have at least one test a week that I need to study for. But I finally squeezed some time in for this! Ha, I'm undefeated! *Bows down while people give me a standing ovation* **

**I hope ya'll like it. Let's get more reviews this time! I would love to hear your opinion and suggestions! They definitely help! Thank you for the reviews, though. You guys are definitely the best!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders but if I did, I'd make Darry at least quit one of jobs. The poor bloke. **

Everybody looked up to see Curly Shepard standing in the Curtis living room. Tim got up fast and glared at his kid brother.

"Why the hell are you here?" Tim growled.

Curly looked amused. "Angel told me that you were going to fight some Socs and I thought I could come out and help you."

Tim blinked. "How the hell did Angela know? Never mind, I don't want to know. But the fight was an hour ago. Where the hell were you?"

Curly shrugged as he plopped down besides Ponyboy. "I looked around town and then I finally thought, 'Hey he's probably at Curtis's house.' And so I came here."

"You're so slow, you little," And Tim began to call Curly every swear word out there in the world and more as he sat back down in his seat.

Curly grinned at him. "If you so. What are you guys doing anyway?"

"We're reading my theme." Ponyboy said with an eye roll.

Curly looked incredulously at his brother. "You're actually listening to this bullshit?! Curtis here is all about books and sunsets." Curly turned and grinned at Pony and Pony grinned back.

Soda and Darry watched the two greasers, feeling truly shocked. They had thought that Ponyboy and Curly were just acquaintances but from the way two were smiling at each other, they couldn't be anything less than friends. Soda felt a part of him falling into despair. He had always prided himself with the fact that he knew his kid brother real well. He had listen to his brother rattle on in the middle of the night, he had held his brother as the nightmares try to destroy what was left in the poor fragile boy's heart, and he had always been there when Darry had been kinda rough with him. If that didn't allow him to fully understand his kid brother, than he had no idea what would.

"Well, I'll have yawl know that we're in it." Tim said as he interrupted Darry and Soda's train of thought.

Suddenly Curly perked up. "Really? Well, I better be tuff." Curly said. Ponyboy just grinned and shook his head.

**She left me standing there with my mouth dropped open, and the blue Mustang vroomed off.  
**

"I don't blame you." Two-Bit mumbled.

"Why? What happened?" Curly demanded.

Ponyboy quickly informed Curly on how Cherry might fall in love with Dally.

Curly looked lost for words. "You're kidding me. Curtis, does it look like the world ended to you? 'Cause that's the only way a Soc would fall in love with Dallas Winston."

Ponyboy gave him a small smile. "If this is what shocks you, than oh boy, you're in for a ride."

Everybody looked shocked though. How could this be more surprising was the question that was running through everybody's mind.

**We walked on home, mostly in silence. I wanted to ask Johnny if those were the same Socs that had beaten him up, but I didn't mention it. Johnny never talked about it and we never said anything.  
**

Tim and Curly looked uncomfortable as they looked at solemn faces of the Curtis gang. They never really met Johnny but they were plenty aware of how protective the gang was of Johnny and Tim would tell his gang to never mess with Johnny Cade. He sure as hell didn't want to aggravate the Curtis gang, especially Dally and Darry.

**"Well, those were two good-lookin' girls if I ever saw any." Two-Bit yawned as we sat down on the curb at the vacant lot. He took a piece of paper out, of his pocket and tore it up.  
"What was that?"  
"Marcia's number. Probably a phony one, too. I must have been outa my mind to ask for it. I think I'm a little soused."  
**

Everybody laughed. "Nice excuse." Soda said, looking up at the older member of the gang.

Two-Bit blushed. "Hey! I really was drunk. And she sure was a tuff Soc."

Tim shook his head. "We're greasers; we do not like Socs."

Ponyboy was about to answer him but Curly punched him in the shoulder. Don't mess with my brother, his face plainly said.

Ponyboy snorted. He knew nobody would hurt him if his brothers were in the same room but he kept his mouth shut.

**So he had been drinking. Two-Bit was smart.**

Two-Bit looked at everybody with mock superiority. "Why thank you Ponyboy. I'm glad you're realizing this now. Although I have to say, you're a tad bit slow."

Ponyboy looked amused. "Mathews, you're lucky that all the pillows are on your side of the room. Now shut up and let Steve read."

**He knew the score. "Y'all goin' home?" he asked.  
"Not right now," I said. I wanted to have another smoke and to watch the stars. I had to be in by twelve, but I thought I had plenty of time.  
**

Darry gulped. This was the night. This was when he drove Pony out and this was the night where everything went wrong. All his fault. Soda and Pony must have sense this shift in mood because they threw him smile and Soda started making faces at Pony and Pony did it right back to him until it came to a point where Darry couldn't help but chuckle.

**"I don't know why I handed you that busted bottle," Two-Bit said, getting to his feet. "You'd never use it."  
"Maybe I would have," I said. "Where you headed?"  
**

Two-Bit chuckled. "If I knew what you could with a busted bottle, I would never have given it to you outa fear."

"Two-Bit, what the hell are you talking about?!" Soda demanded.

"Keep reading." Ponyboy and Two-Bit said slyly.

**"Gonna go play a little snooker and hunt up a poker game. Maybe get rip-roarin' drunk. I dunno. See y'all tomorrow."  
**

"When aren't you drunk?" Steve asked.

"Shut up." Two-Bit said, getting red in the face.

Curly leaned over to whisper in Pony's ear. "You're gang is weird. If somebody told Tim that, he would have jumped him in seconds."

Ponyboy just shook his head. "It's because we genuinely like each other."

Curly blinked. "We like each other."

"Sure, Curly. Whatever floats your boat." Ponyboy said while rolling his eyes.

Curly looked surprised. "I don't have a boat."

"Oh god." Was all Pony said.

**Johnny and I stretched out on our backs and looked at the stars. I was freezing- it was a cold night and all I had was that sweat shirt, but I could watch stars in sub-zero weather.**

"PONYBOY! What's the matter with you?! Don't you know that your health is more important than watching the stars? They ain't going anywhere!" Darry fumed.

Ponyboy rolled his eyes. But Curly was looking wistfully at Darry. I wish Tim would say that to me, he thought. But mentally smacked himself afterwards. They were greasers and greasers didn't care about things like this.

** I saw Johnny's cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely what it was like inside a burning ember...  
**

"Really Pony? What kinda of imagination do you have?" Two-Bit exclaimed.

"Well, I do know now." Ponyboy replied.

"What? How?!" Both older Curtis brothers replied.

"The church, remember?" Ponyboy said.

They both shudder. "No, I rather not." Soda said as he knocked Curly over accidentaly while giving Pony a fierce hug.

"Watch it, Curtis. That's my kid brother right there." Tim growled.

**"It was because we're greasers," Johnny said, and I knew he was talking about Cherry. "We could have hurt her reputation."  
**

"You're a great boy, Pony. Don't let some Soc tell you otherwise." Darry said furiously.

"Yeah, or else we kick their ass." Curly contributed.

Ponyboy rolled his eyes at the both of them.

**"I reckon," I said, wondering if I ought to tell Johnny what she had said about Dallas.  
"Man, that was a tuff car. Mustangs are tuff."  
"Big time Socs, all right," I said, a nervous bitterness growing inside me. It wasn't fair for the Socs to have everything. We were as good as they were; it wasn't our fault we were greasers. **

"Thank god we're not Socs. We were blessed to be greasers." Tim said looking heavenwards and everybody agreed with him

**I couldn't just take it or leave it, like Two-Bit,**

Two-Bit snorted. "Who said I just take and leave it? Don't tell me you never saw me fight a soc."

** or ignore it and love life anyway, like Sodapop, **

Soda grinned. "What's there not to love? I've got two amazing brothers and the best buddies in the world."

Two-Bit pretended to cry while Tim and Curly looked uncomfortable. They never were one's to show their true emotions and all these emotions were making them feel weird. The Curtis gang sure is strange, Curly thought.

**or harden myself beyond caring, like Dally,**

Tim nodded his head. "Now that was a true greaser." Curly quickly agreed with him.

** or actually enjoy it, like Tim Shepard.**

Tim snorted. "What's there not to enjoy? Right, Curly?"

Curly nodded his head. "Pounding those soc in, stealing weed or beer, fighting in rumbles.." He drifted off with a dreamy look on his face. Tim smacked him in the back of his head to get his kid brother head back in reality.

** I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen or I would explode.  
"I can't take much more." Johnny spoke my own feel ings. "I'll kill myself or something."  
**

"What?!" Everbody in the gang shouted.

"Ponyboy, why didn't you tell us about this?" Darry demanded.

Ponyboy just looked tired. "I don't know how many times I've got to say this but, keep reading."

**"Don't," I said, sitting up in alarm. "You can't kill yourself, Johnny."  
"Well, I won't. But I gotta do something. It seems like there's gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain ordinary people."  
**

Everybody looked visibly realized. Tim and Curly exchanged puzzled look. If a member of one there gang had to told that they wanted to commit suicide, all they would say is tell god to save some space in hell for them.

**"Out of the big towns," I said, lying back down. "In the country..."  
In the country... I loved the country. I wanted to be out of towns and away from excitement. I only wanted to lie on my back under a tree and read a book or draw a picture, and not worry about being jumped or carrying a blade or ending up married to some scatterbrained broad with no sense. **

Soda looked concerned. "Ponyboy, you can marry anybody you want. Don't ever think otherwise."

Pony just shrugged. But Darry had something else on his mind. He had never realized how much Ponyboy liked the country. He made a mental note that he would take his kid brothers out to the country more often.

**The country would be like that, I thought dreamily. I would have a yeller cur dog, like I used to, and Sodapop could get Mickey Mouse back and ride in all the rodeos he wanted to, and Darry would lose that cold, hard look and be like he used to be, eight months ago,**

Curly looked surprised. "Ya think you're brother has a cold hard look? Oh boy, try living with Tim."

Tim smacked him upside the head.

** before Mom and Dad were killed. Since I was dreaming I brought Mom and Dad back to life... Mom could bake some more chocolate cakes and Dad would drive the pickup out early to feed the cattle. He would slap Darry on the back and tell him he was getting to be a man, a regular chip off the block, and they would be as close as they used to be. **

The Curtis looked upset at the mention of their beautiful, amazing but sadly dead parents. Steve and Two-Bit comforted them while Tim and Curly looked uncomfortable.

**Maybe Johnny could come and live with us, and the gang could come out on weekends, and maybe Dallas would see that there was some good in the world after all, and Mom would talk to him and make him grin in spite of himself. "You've got quite a mom," Dally used to say. "She knows the score." She could talk to Dallas and kept him from getting into a lot of trouble. **

"She was something special." Darry said wistfully.

**My mother was golden and beautiful...  
**

"She sure was." Soda said.

**"Ponyboy"- Johnny was shaking me- "Hey, Pony, wake up."  
I sat up, shivering. The stars had moved. "Glory, what time is it?"  
**

The Curtis brother immediately stiffened. This was the night. And from the looks on Two-Bit and Steve's face, they realized it too. Tim and Curly looked on curiously as they thought what in the world could make this gang look anxious?

**"I don't know. I went to sleep, too, listening to you rattle on and on. You'd better get home. I think I'll stay all night out here." Johnny's parents didn't care if he came home or not.  
"Okay." I yawned. Gosh, but it was cold.**

"Ya should've brought a jacket." Darry grumbled.

Ponyboy just looked at him sheepishly.

** "If you get cold or something come on over to our house."  
"Okay."  
I ran home, trembling at the thought of facing Darry.**

Darry's heart fell. He never wanted to intimidate his kid brothers but from the looks of it, he had failed epically.

** The porch light was on. Maybe they were asleep and I could sneak in, I thought.**

"Yeah right kiddo. Nothing goes unoticed by Darry." Steve snorted.

** I peeked in the window. Sodapop was stretched out on the sofa, sound asleep, but Darry was in the armchair under the lamp, reading the newspaper. I gulped, and opened the door softly. Darry looked up from his paper. He was on his feet in a second. I stood there, chewing on my fingernail.  
**

Two-Bit groaned inwardly. He really didn't want to read another Curtis brawl. He always thought they got along perfectly but this theme was tearing apart his fantasy world.

**"Where the heck have you been? Do you know what time it is?" He was madder than I'd seen him in a long time. I shook my head wordlessly.  
"Well, it's two in the morning, kiddo. Another hour and I would have had the police out after you. Where were you, Ponyboy?"- his voice was rising- "Where in the almighty universe were you?"  
It sounded dumb, even to me, when I stammered, "I... I went to sleep in the lot..."  
**

"That even sounds dumb to me and that's saying something." Curly whispered to Pony but Pony didn't replies because he was too busy chewing his fingernail.

**"You what?" He was shouting, and Sodapop sat up and rubbed his eyes.  
"Hey, Ponyboy," he said sleepily, "where ya been?"  
**

Two-Bit couldn't help but laugh. "Great timing, Soda. Really great."

Soda growled and grabbed a lone pillow by Tim and threw it at Two-Bit.

**"I didn't mean to." I pleaded with Darry. "I was talking to Johnny and we both dropped off..."  
"I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin. And you were asleep in the lot? Ponyboy, what on earth is the matter with you? Can't you use your head? You haven't even got a coat on."  
**

"Jeez, Curtis. The kid was only late by two hours." Tim said. But one look from Darry shut him real good.

**I felt hot tears of anger and frustration rising. "I said I didn't mean to..."  
"I didn't mean to!" Darry shouted, and I almost shook. "I didn't think! I forgot! That's all I hear out of you! Can't you think of anything?"  
**

"Even I've got to admit that's a little harsh." Curly said.

Darry was feeling too devasted to say anything. He had sincerely thought that he was doing what was best for Pony but from Pony' point of view, he just seemed plain harsh. Ponyboy, sensing this, moved closer to Darry and threw him a reassuring smile at him.

**"Darry..." Sodapop began, but Darry turned on him. "You keep your trap shut! I'm sick and tired of hearin' you stick up for him."  
He should never yell at Soda. Nobody should ever holler at my brother. **

Soda turned and looked at his kid brother, his eyes filled with affection and love. He knew that Pony loved him but he hadn't realized the extent of it. He sure was glad that Pony loved him as much as he loved him.

**I exploded. "You don't yell at him!" I shouted. Darry wheeled around and slapped me so hard that it knocked me against the door.  
**

Everything had gone quiet. The silence was buzzing in everybody's ear. Then all hell broke loose.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? PONYBOY'S YOUR BROTHER, YOUR RESPONSIBILTY! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HURT HIM!" Steve fumed. Steve knew something went wrong this night at the Curtis but he never that it was _this._ He turned towards Ponyboy and sincerely said, "Pony, when you ran away that night, I thought you were being dramatic and begging for attention. But now I understand why. I don't blame you anymore." He said while throwing Darry a murderous look.

"Steve, you apologize to my brother right now." Soda said warningly.

Steve turned towards him, suddenly furious at his buddy for not understanding him. "No Soda, I won't apologize. You wanna know why? It's because I always thought this place was a haven. I didn't want Pony to go through what I went through. He has no idea what it's like to have your old man hit you. I-i-t hurts. It hurts because they're supposed to love you, protect you and always be there for you. They should not be hurting you; they should be the one who stops you from getting hurt in the first place." With that, a tearful Steve ran out into the warm, summer air.

All this was a big slap in the face for Darry. He had messed up big time but it hurt even more to hear all this coming from his buddies. Ponyboy and Soda wrapped their arms around him and tried to reassure them that everything was okay and that Steve was always hot temperd to begin with. But one look at Two-Bit's face and he knew he had upsetted another member of their gang.

Two-Bit looked like he wanted to go bawl his eyes out. "Darry, h-how could you? How, why would you do that to Pony? The kid doesn't use his head a lot we all know that but that doesn't mean we go around smacking him around. I thought you knew better, Darry."

Darry's heart shattered at those words. They were somehow, impossibly worse than Steve's. Two-Bit's soft, defeated voice cut right through all of Superman's barrier and hit him hard in the heart.

All this, the two Shepard brothers sat and watched. They felt uncomfortable and shocked by all this. Even Tim knew that it was harsh too smack a kid that hard just because he came home past his curfew.

Soda, with a defeated sigh because he couldn't cheer up his brother, got up to retrieve Steve so that they could continue reading. Minutes later, he dragged a fuming Steve Randle into the living room.

Soda sat down besides Darry and sighed. He _hated_ reliving this. He always thought he could protect Pony from anything. Socs, bullies? check. Fights in rumbles? check. His own brother? He hadn't even consider it and was furious when Darry hit him.

Ponyboy looked around at everybody's torn face and sighed. "Uh, guys? I'm fine! It's okay; Darry and I talked it through." Nobody galnced at him and Curly sypathetically patted his shoulder. "Nice try, Curtis." He said.

Steve picked up Pony's forgotten theme and sat down in the seat furthest from Darry. He cleared his throat and began to read.

**Suddenly it was deathly quiet. We had all frozen. Nobody in my family had ever hit me. Nobody. **

"They shouldn't." Steve growled.

**Soda was wide-eyed. Darry looked at the palm of his hand where it had turned red and then looked back at me. His eyes were huge. "Ponyboy..."  
I turned and ran out the door and down the street as fast as I could. Darry screamed, "Pony, I didn't mean to!"**

Steve's laugh was deviod of any humor. "Ahh, look whose saying those word now."

Darry buried his face in his hands. Soda glared at his Steve. "Shut your trap. If you have anything nice to say than just keep your trap shut."

** but I was at the lot by then and pretended I couldn't hear. I was running away. It was plain to me that Darry didn't want me around. And I wouldn't stay if he did. He wasn't ever going to hit me again.  
**

"Don't worry, Pony. We're hear for you." Two-Bit said sincerely to quickly quiet Steve before he could say something.

**"Johnny?" I called, and started when he rolled over and jumped up almost under my feet. "Come on, Johnny, we're running away."  
Johnny asked no questions. We ran for several blocks until we were out of breath. **

"Now that's a true greaser." Tim nodded his head approvingly.

**Then we walked. I was crying by then. I finally just sat down on the curb and cried, burying my face in my arms. Johnny sat down beside me, one hand on my shoulder. "Easy, Ponyboy," he said softly, "we'll be okay."  
I finally calmed down and wiped my eyes on my bare arm. My breath was coming in quivering sobs. "Gotta cigarette?"  
**

"You sure are addicted." Curly said.

Ponyboy rolled his eye. "You would want a weed if you were in my position."

**He handed me one and struck a match.  
"Johnny, I'm scared."  
'Well, don't be. You're scarin' me. What happened? I never seen you bawl like that."  
"I don't very often. It was Darry. He hit me. I don't know what happened, but I couldn't take him hollering at me and hitting me too. I don't know... sometimes we get along okay, then all of a sudden he blows up on me or else is naggin' at me all the time. He didn't use to be like that... we used to get along okay... before Mom and Dad died. Now he just can't stand me."  
**

"Oh Pony. I love you. I'll always love you." Darry said tearfully.

Ponyboy nodded but Steve opened his mouth to say something. But one look from Soda and he closed his mouth.

**"I think I like it better when the old man's hittin' me." Johnny sighed. "At least then I know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain't got nobody."  
**

Everybody was surprised to hear this Johnny. They never realized how lonely Johnny would be before they read Pony's theme.

"Oh, Johnnycake. You've always got the gang." Two-Bit said softly.

**"Shoot," I said, startled out of my misery, "you got the whole gang. Dally didn't slug you tonight 'cause you're the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang."  
**

Two-Bit smiled sadly at Pony and both of felt tears slide down their face. Gosh but did they really miss Johnny.

**"It ain't the same as having your own folks care about you," Johnny said simply. "It just ain't the same."  
**

Curly digested those words. Until now, he really didn't consider him that lucky to have siblings. Before he thought they were just a waste of space. But now, he realized how damn lucky was to have Tim and even Angela.

**I was beginning to relax and wonder if running away was such a great idea. I was sleepy and freezing to death and I wanted to be home in bed, safe and warm under the covers with Soda's arm across me. **

Soda groaned inwardly. Ponyboy should've just come home! Home with Soda's watchful eyes on him, knowing he was safe and sound. Not in the hands of some soc.

**I decided I would go home and just not speak to Darry. It was my house as much as Darry's, and if he wanted to pretend I wasn't alive, that was just fine with me. He couldn't stop me from living in my own house.  
"Let's walk to the park and back. Then maybe I'll be cooled off enough to go home."  
"Okay," Johnny said easily. "Okay."  
Things gotta get better, I figured. They couldn't get worse. I was wrong.**

"That's the end." Steve said angrily as he slammed Pony's theme shut.

"Guys, I think that's enough for one night." Darry croaked out.

"You don't say." Steve said as he walked out of the Curtis home and towards his.

**A/N: Hey, it's me again! I'm going to have the other Fanfic about the new girl in Pony's English class up soon. It's going to be called, 'Nothing is what it seems'. It's gonna be about this girl named Rebecca Meyers, a regular middle class girl and she moved to Tulsa. She hasn't got a clue about Socs and Greasers so she's trying to get coordinated. She befriends Pony and the gang, while also having some Socs as friends. She starts getting feelings for Pony but she's still confused as to the division of the social classes and where she stands. Then everything in her home crumbles and she's left vulnerable. I hope you guys I like it. If you have any ideas for it, you can definitely PM me some ideas. :)**

**Ya'll know the deal: More reviews=faster updates! ) **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the lovely reviews. Keep them up! I got to update today cause I'm sick in bed ;). Anyway, I got the first chapter of 'Nothing is What it Seems' up! Enjoy!**

**This part was soo long that I just made it into it's own chapter. Hope you guys like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders but if I did, I'd make Steve and Pony talk through their problems for Soda's sake. **

Two-Bit looked wearily at the remaining greasers. "Sorry guys, I've got to hit the road. I promise my Ma that I'd watch my sister." He threw Darry a meaningful look and got up and left.

Tim Shepard however was unconcerned. He stretched back on the sofa and closed his eyes. "Curly," He said, "You better go back before I kick your ass. Oh, tell Angela to mind her own business the next time."

Curly frowned. "You're staying here?"

Tim glanced at him. "No shit Sherlock. Now scram."

Curly got up and gave Pony a smile. "Don't worry Curtis, I'll be back to hear the rest of this story." He said as he left.

Now there was only Darry, Pony, Soda and Tim left.

"'Night." Tim said and he rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

"You guys should go to sleep, too." Darry sighed.

"Aww Dare, don't be like that. Steve always been hot tempered but who knew he had soft spot for me?" Ponyboy said while trying to lighten up the mood.

It worked. Darry gave out a low chuckle while Soda frowned.

"I know that we already talked about this but it still hurt to hear it from the guys, ya dig?" Darry asked.

Pony and Soda nodded. "We dig Darry but you still got us and that's what really matters."

"If you guys are gonna have a Curtis brother moment, then I suggest you take it somewhere else. Some people are trying to sleep." Tim grumbled.

Darry smiled and turned to his brothers. "All right kiddos, that's enough for one night. Go to bed."

Pony and Soda complained as they brushed their teeth's and climbed into bed. Darry walked in and smiled at his kid brothers who looked up at him grumpily.

"Goodnight guys." Darry said.

"Goodnight!" They chimed and Darry walked down the hall to his bedroom.

As soon as Darry left, Ponyboy sat straight up.

"Soda, Soda don't go to sleep." Pony said urgently.

Soda groaned and rolled over. "Why not?"

"I don't think Darry should go to sleep alone tonight." He said hurriedly. "I mean, Steve was kinda harsh to him and nobody should go to sleep with that kinda guilt."

Soda sighed. "I get what you're saying. But what should we do?"

Even in the dark, Soda could see Pony's mischievous smile. "Let's give him a surprise visit."

Soda grinned right back. "Oh, you're so on."

They quietly got up from their bed and tiptoed to Darry's room. Soda took a peek in and reported back to Pony.

"He's just lying there." Soda whispered.

Pony nodded. "Let's surprise him."

They walked quietly back to Darry's room and Pony held up his fingers.

3….2…..1 and...

"AHH!" Both Curtis brothers screamed as they ran into Darry's room and jumped on his bed.

Darry shot up from his bed and looked wildly around the room but only to find his kid brothers cracking up beside him. Darry sighed with relief and tried to control his heart rate.

But the door was suddenly banged open by Tim Shepard as he ran in with a switchblade. He looked around the room but only found the Curtis's.

He glared at them. "Yawl gotta be kidding me. Its midnight and I thought some damn socs had broken in. Next time I'll knock your heads together if you pull a stunt like that again." He said as he walked back to the living room while shaking his head.

Soda and Pony, who had quieted down a bit when Tim came in, started cracking up all over again.

Darry glared at them. "What in this almighty world were you guys thinking?!"

Soda laughed as he pointed at Pony. "H-his idea."

Darry watched with curiosity as his brothers made themselves comfortable on his bed. They looked up with him with their eyebrows raised.

"Darry, you heard Tim. It's midnight and you should be sleeping." Pony said as he lifted the covers over him.

"Ya I heard him real well. Which means the two of you should be going back to your bed." Darry said, still shocked.

Soda yawned and patted at the empty spot between him and Pony. "Come on, Dare. Stop being so stubborn and just sleep."

Darry crossed his arms over his chest. "Is this about Pony's theme? Guys, I'm okay."

"Mm, hmm. Who do you think we are? We're your brothers, that's who. We know when things are bugging you." Pony said sleepily.

Darry sighed and crawled in between them. "Have I ever told you guys that you were crazy? He asked.

"All the time." Both of them replied.

Darry smiled and watched his kid brothers fall asleep right next to him. Both of them looked young in their sleep and carefree. As Darry fell asleep, he said his thanks for having such amazing and caring little brothers. He knew that everything he sacrificed for them was worth it. They were worth it.

X-X-X-X

The next morning, Two-Bit walked into the Curtis house real early. He was just itchin' to read more of Pony's theme. The damn kid could write and now this was Two-Bit's chance to see what really happened in that church in Windrixville. He also wanted to tell Darry that he understood why he slapped Pony. Darry really didn't use head sometimes. He poked his head in through the front door.

"Anybody home?!" He hollered as he slammed the door.

"Shut up, you'll wake up the damn neighborhood." Tim growled from the couch.

"Where are the Curtis's?" Two-Bit asked.

"How the fuck should I know? Do I look like a map to you?" Tim replied.

"Jeez, you just ain't a morning person, are you?" Two-Bit said while shaking his head. He poked his in Soda's and Pony's but for some reason they weren't there. Frowning, Two-Bit walked towards Darry's bedroom. Why were the Curtis's, he thought. As he opened the bedroom door, he saw exactly where they were.

All three Curtis's were curled up against each other on Darry's bed. Two-Bit noticed how young they all looked, especially Darry. Darry didn't have those worry creases on his forehead and he actually looked happy and content. He no longer looked like a 21 year old who had to grow up too fast for his brothers; he just looked like an innocent 18 year old, Two-Bit thought guilty. They had been really harsh on him yesterday; he was just getting the hang of taking care of his kid brothers.

He watched with for a minute or so and the hollered, "Ain't this just the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

Ponyboy slowly opened his eyes. "Hiya, Two-Bit. Glad to see you happy." He said as he tried to tickle Darry awake.

"Hey Dare! Two-Bit's here and he's probably hungry." Pony said.

"He knows how to use the fridge." He mumbled.

"I bet Tim's hungry too." Two-Bit added.

Darry glanced at his buddy. He didn't seem angry at him or seemed to be giving any pity to him. He just seemed like good 'ole Two-Bit.

Darry sighed. "Fine, I'm getting up." Then he turned to see Soda dead to the world. He turned towards with his eyebrows raised.

Pony grinned. "I know that look. Let's do it."

Darry and Pony started tickling Soda. Soda woke up with a fit of laughter. He tried to shove off his brothers but they were too strong and he was still groggy.

"Darry! Pony! I-I think I'm gonna die!" He laughed as he struggled to get away from them. Then he caught sight of Two-Bit standing in the doorway.

"T-two-Bit! Stop standing there, you d-dolt! H-help m-me!" Soda shrieked.

Two-Bit just smiled. "I like to watch you suffer."

Finally, Darry and Pony stopped tickling him as they saw Soda struggling to breathe. He staggered towards the door and Two-Bit bolted towards the living room. He turned towards his brothers who were smiling up at him.

"I-I hate you guys." He said but he couldn't help but smile at them too. Their smiles were just too contagious.

He walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth while his brothers made the bed. When he walked out, he noticed that Steve had joined Two-Bit and Tim in the kitchen.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "So what's for breakfast, hot shot?"

Soda rummaged through the cabinets. "Umm, it seems like pancake." Then he turned towards his buddy. "Hey, be easy on Darry. He knew what he did was wrong but don't explode again, ya dig?"

Steve shrugged. "Whatever."

Soda started making the pancakes as everybody took a seat and looked at him expectantly. Soda raised his eyebrows.

"Yawl could help me." He said as he flipped the pancakes and put them onto their plates.

"No way!" Two-Bit said as he digged into his…. Purple pancake.

Darry and Pony had joined them were digging in as well but Tim didn't touch his food.

Soda raised his eyebrows. "Anything wrong, Tim?"

"Err, is it supposed to be purple?" Tim asked uncertainly.

Soda grinned. "Ya think I would poison my brothers? It's just food dye."

Tim seemed hesitant as he took a bite of his pancake. He swallowed and inwardly sighed. The Curtis's weren't going to poison him today.

The front door slammed open and in walked a breathless Curly.

"Ha! I knew you guys were-" Then he caught sight of the gang eating. "Oh, yawl are just eating."

Pony looked amused. "What did ya think we were doing, Curly?"

Curly blushed. "I thought ya'll were reading Pony's theme. I didn't want to miss the part where that soc dies."

Two-Bit perked up. "Why don't we get right now and read it while we eat." He got up and grabbed Pony's theme from the living room. He tossed it to Darry.

"You're turn to read Dare." He said. And then he smiled at the gang. "Ha! There're no pillows here!"

Steve smiled. "Nope, we got something better; Forks and knives."

Two-Bit glared at him. "Don't even think about it, Randle."

Steve just grinned while Darry cleared his throat and began to read.

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: There you go! Read my other story guys! **

**Ya'll know the deal: More review, the faster the update! ;) *grinning evily***


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Keep then up! I got this done for ya'll! I nearly barfed on my laptop but I still prevailed! Thanks for all the lovely reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders but if I did, I'd add Two-Bit's sister in some more. Kinda curious about her. **

Darry cleared his throat and started reading.

**Chapter 4**

**THE PARK WAS ABOUT two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for the little kids. The pool was empty now in the fall, but the fountain was going merrily. Tall elm trees made the park shadowy and dark, and it would have been a good hangout, but we preferred our vacant lot, and the Shepard outfit liked the alleys down by the tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids.**

Soda winked at Pony. "You've got quite an advantage, right Pony? You can just take your lady to the park and be like 'this is where my buddy and I killed a soc right there.' You'd look real tough, Pone."

Everybody stopped and stared at Soda.

"What?" Soda asked. "I am saying the truth!"

Steve shook his head. "You should NOT be giving that kind of advice."

Soda shrugged. "The kid's dead already; why not take it to our advantage."

Steve picked up a butter knife. "I got a knife and I ain't afraid to use it."

Soda raised his eyebrow. "You are really degrading yourself if you're gonna use a butter knife, Randle."

**Nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to relax and cool off. I couldn't have got ten much cooler without turning into a popsicle. **

"Ya should've brought a jacket." Darry grumbled.

**Johnny snapped up his jeans jacket and flipped up the collar.  
"Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?"  
"You ain't a'woofin'," I said, rubbing my bare arms between drags on my cigarette. I started to say something about the film of ice developing on the outer edges of the fountain**

"What was there to say?" Two-Bit asked.

Pony's eye brightened. "It looked really beautiful. Especially the ice was a grayish color while the water was clear and it showed soo much-"

Two-Bit cut him off. "Never mind kid. You can always draw me a picture."

**when a sudden blast from a car horn made us both jump. The blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.  
**

The gang immediately tensed up. This time there was no gang coming to rescue these two; they were all alone.

It made Darry sick to his stomach that he could've prevented all this from all this happening but he didn't! Why didn't we check the park? Darry thought miserably. When he glanced at Soda, he could tell that the same thoughts were flying through his mind by his the anxious look in his eyes.

**Johnny swore under his breath, and I muttered, "What do they want? This is our territory. What are Socs doing this far east?"  
Johnny shook his head. "I don't know. But I bet they're looking for us. We picked up their girls."  
"Oh, glory," I said with a groan, "this is all I need to top off a perfect night"**

"Well," Curly said. "It could have gone worse. You could've died that night."

Soda gave a whimpered and Tim smacked Curly on the head. Pony, however, grinned at him.

"Yeah. That would've been bad." Pony said.

**I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel. "Want to run for it?"  
**

"Yes! Run for it!" Two-Bit screamed at Pony's notebook.

"Um, anybody want to tell him that he's yelling at a notebook?" Curly whispered to Pony.

Pony looked amused. "I ain't itchin' to get my head busted."

Curly looked surprised and quickly shut his mouth.

**"It's too late now," Johnny said. "Here they come."  
Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were staggering I figured they were reeling pickled. That scared me. A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to two and were drunk. **

"Those cowardly, son of-" Tim cursed out the socs.

Two-Bit's eyes were blazing. "Why don't they go found a more even fight, huh? Gosh but those socs are assholes." Steve nodded his head because he couldn't even trust himself to speak.

Darry and Soda fists were curled up and it was taking all their willpower not to go hunt down those socs and beat the tar out of them.

**Johnny's hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade. I wished for that broken bottle. I'd sure show them I could use it if I had to.**

Two-Bit and Steve smiled. "Ya sure can use one." Steve said.

Ponyboy blushed and Darry groaned.

"Don't encourage him." Darry said sternly.

**Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. We backed against the fountain and the Socs surrounded us. They smelled so heavily of whiskey and English Leather that I almost choked.**

"Ya should've shoved them in the fountain to give them a shower." Tim growled.

Pony gulped. "Uh, sure Tim." He said weakly. Pony really hated reliving this part. There was so 'what if' running through his head that it always got gave him a headache. Soda, noticing Pony's shift in mood, put a loving arm around him and ruffled his hair affectionately.

**I wished desperately that Darry and Soda would come along hunting for me.**

"We did!" Soda bursted out. "But it never occurred to us to check the park!"

Pony smiled at him. "Don't worry, Soda. I'm still here."

Soda nodded his head but he was so close to tears. He and Darry could've prevented the whole damn thing! It was driving him insane that the whole thing could've been avoided but he didn't do anything.

**The four of us could handle them easily. But no one was around, and I knew Johnny and I were going to have to fight it out alone. Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face- you'd have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes. I stared at the Socs coolly. Maybe they could scare us to death, but we'd never let them have the satisfaction of knowing it.  
**

Tim nodded his head in approval. "Now that's the greaser way."

Curly slapped Pony on the back. "You really do use your head, Curtis."

Pony rolled his eyes.

**It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized us. I knew Johnny recognized them; he was watching the moonlight glint off Bob's rings with huge eyes.  
"Hey, whatta ya know?" Bob said a little unsteadily, "here's the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, greasers."  
"You're outa your territory," Johnny warned in a low voice. "You'd better watch it"  
**

"You tell 'im, Johnnycake!" Steve whooped.

**Randy swore at us and they stepped in closes. Bob was eyeing Johnny. "Nup, pal, yer the ones who'd better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind- dirt."  
I was getting mad. I was hating them enough to lose my head.  
"You know what a greaser is?" Bob asked. "White trash with long hair."  
**

"Those socs have better watch it!" Tim roared. "'Cause they are gonna get their ass whipped."

Soda had to actually pry the butter knife from Steve because he knew sooner or later the thing would go flying.

**I felt the blood draining from my face. I've been cussed out and sworn at, but nothing ever hit me like that did. Johnnycake made a kind of gasp and his eyes were smoldering.  
"You know what a Soc is?" I said, my voice shaking with rage. "White trash with Mustangs and madras." And then, because I couldn't think of anything bad enough to call them, I spit at them.**

Tim cheered and thumped Pony on the back. "If ya ever want to join my gang, you're more than welcomed, Curtis!"

Pony winced. "Thanks but no thanks, Tim."

But Darry frowned. "Don't ever stoop so low that you have to spit at someone, Pony."

Curly raised his eyebrow. His brother most certainly wouldn't ever say that. "But he's a soc." Curly pointed out.

Darry just shook his head. "Doesn't make a difference."

**Bob shook his head, smiling slowly. "You could use a bath, greaser.**

"You're the one who needs the bath!" Two-Bit spat out. "Smellin' like whiskey and old English leather! It's a wonder that we couldn't smell you from our houses!"

**And a good working over. And we've got all night to do it. Give the kid a bath, David."  
I ducked and tried to run for it, but the Soc caught my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain.**

Soda was breathing so hard that Steve, who was sitting right next to him, had to grab the plate that his buddy was threatening to break and put far away from him.

**I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. I'm dying, I thought, and wondered what was happening to Johnny.**

Steve nodded his approvingly. "Always stick up for buddy."

**I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I fought again desperately but only sucked in water. I'm drowning, I thought, they've gone too far... A red haze filled my mind and I slowly relaxed.  
**

"No!" Soda screamed and then burst into tears. Pony quickly got up and wrapped his arms around him.

"Soda, it's okay. I'm fine." Pony said soothingly.

"A-all my f-fault. I-I should've b-been there f-for you." Soda sobbed.

"Hey," Pony said softly. "It's not your fault. Stop beating yourself up."

But Darry was looking at Pony with pleading eyes. "I am so sorry Pony. I never knew that you went through this and the fact that I was the one that drove you away really doesn't help matters."

Pony opened his arms and grinned up at Darry. "You wanna hug too, Dare?"

Darry grinned and hugged both his kid brothers tightly. He never ever wanted to lose them again.

Two-Bit sniffed. "Ya'll so touchy to be greasers. So many Curtis brother moments! I think my heart's gonna explode."

"My head was when they were having a Curtis brother moment last night." Tim mumbled.

**The next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement beside the fountain, coughing water and gasping. I lay there weakly, breathing in air and spitting out water. The wind blasted through my soaked sweat shirt and dripping hair. My teeth chattered unceasingly and I couldn't stop them.**

"Ya should've brought a jacket." Darry grumbled again.

Pony raised his eyebrows. "How many times are you going to say that?"

"Until you get a jacket." Darry replied.

**I finally pushed myself up and leaned back against the fountain, the water running down my face. Then I saw Johnny.  
He was sitting next to me, one elbow on his knee, and staring straight ahead. He was a strange greenish-white, and his eyes were huger than I'd ever seen them.  
"I killed him," he said slowly. "I killed that boy."  
**

Everybody's face turned green except for Tim and Curly.

"I never would've dreamed it being him. Dally for sure would kill a soc but not Cade." Curly mumbled.

**Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moon light, doubled up and still. A dark pool was growing from him, spreading slowly over the blue white cement. I looked at Johnny's hand. He was clutching his switchblade, and it was dark to the hilt.**

Steve could feel his breakfast coming up. Although that soc deserved to be dead, it was still a little stomach upsetting to hear all the gory details. Especially having it come from somebody as young as Pony.

**My stomach gave a vio lent jump and my blood turned icy.  
"Johnny," I managed to say, fighting the dizziness, "I think I'm gonna be sick."  
"Go ahead," he said in the same steady voice. "I won't look at you."  
I turned my head and was quietly sick for a minute. Then I leaned back and closed my eyes so I wouldn't see Bob lying there.  
**

"I don't blame ya, kid." Steve mumbled.

"Um, nobody was blaming Pony in the first place." Two-Bit pointed out.

"I've got a-." Steve looked around. "Hey! Where's my butter knife?!"

Soda just rolled his eyes.

**This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be...  
"You really killed him, huh, Johnny?"  
**

"Nah, he just put him to sleep." Two-Bit said while rolling his eyes.

**"Yeah." His voice quavered slightly. "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade... they were gonna beat me up..."  
"Like..."- I swallowed- "like they did before?"  
Johnny was quiet for a minute. "Yeah," he said, "like they did before."  
Johnny told me what had happened: "They ran when I stabbed him. They all ran..."  
A panic was rising in me as I listened to Johnny's quiet voice go on and on. "Johnny!" I nearly screamed. "What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for, killing people!" **

Everybody was silent. Then Two-Bit said,

"Oh, Johnnycake. Ya could've filed for self-defense."

"He had every right to stab that soc, self-defense or not." Tim said shortly.

**I was shaking. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. We had smoked our last pack. **

Curly looked surprised. "You sure are addicted."

"You would want one to after you saw someone die." Pony simply replied.

**"I'm scared, Johnny. What are we gonna do?"  
Johnny jumped up and dragged me up by my sweat shirt. He shook me. "Calm down, Ponyboy. Get ahold of yourself."  
I hadn't realized I was screaming. I shook loose. "Okay," I said, "I'm okay now."  
**

Soda groaned. "I wish you came to us! You could've gotten away! You didn't kill that soc!"

"I'd always be with Johnny." Pony said defiantly.

**Johnny looked around, slapping his pockets nervously. "We gotta get outa here. Get somewhere. Run away. The police'll be here soon." I was trembling, and it wasn't all from cold. But Johnny, except for the fact that his hands were twitching, looked as cool as Darry ever had.**

Everybody roared with laughter.

"You saying I can get away with murder, Pony?" Darry said jokingly.

Pony blushed.

**"We'll need money. And maybe a gun. And a plan."  
Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world would we get these things?  
"Dally," Johnny said with finality. "Dally'll get us outs here."**

Soda groaned. "I still wish you came straight back home." **  
**

**A****/N: Sorry but I am not at my best rite now. Oh, sorry if it's kinda short! :( I might not be updating my stories for a while 'cause I just can't work with this headache. But I'll still try! **

**Want a faster update? Then leave tons of reviews! ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: All right guys, I'm in the hospital bed righting this to you. I was soo bored and just hyper that I had to write this. So sorry if it's kinda weird or repetitive. I hope ya'll like it!1**

**I can't believe I reached more than 100 reviews for this fanfic! You guys are the best! Keep it up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders but if I did, I'd make Steve and his father talk some things through. I really think his father does care for him. **

"Or you could've come to me." Curly shrugged.

Everybody looked at him, surprised. What is he talking about, everybody thought.

"What?!" Pony asked, voicing everybody'd thought.

"I mean, I know Winston is tough and all but even you said that you didn't like, only respected him. Why would go to Dallas if you didn't like him? You like me or why wouldn't we be friends? And I could've helped you out as well." Curly said and redden a little by everybody's stupefied expressions.

Pony quickly recovered from his shock and shot Two-Bit a look because the greaser looked like he wanted to just burst. Two-Bit bit his lip to the point where he could taste blood, that's how hard he was trying not to laugh.

"Umm, well ya see Curly, Dally knew both Johnny and me and Johnny trust people who knows better and he just doesn't know you that well. Johnny just doesn't open to people he doesn't know well." Pony said while smiling at Curly. "Ya know from past experiences that I come to you." Pony winked.

Curly thought about it and agreed with Pony. "You dig okay, Curtis." He grinned.

But Darry was suspicious. "Past experiences?! Pony! What did you do?!"

Pony grinned slyly. "What you don't know won't kill you, Dare."

Darry pointed his finger at him. "We are going to talk about this Pony." As Pony gulped, Darry turned back to his theme and began to read again.

**I heaved a sigh. Why hadn't I thought of that? But I never thought of anything. Dallas Winston could do any thing.  
**

Two-Bit raised his eyebrow. "Thank god Dally isn't here; I think his ego would've explode from all the 'praises' Pony gives him."

Pony looked indignant. "If you killed somebody who would you go to?"

"My momma." Two-Bit replied and Pony rolled his eyes.

**"Where can we find him?"  
"I think at Buck Merril's place. There's a party over there tonight. Dally said somethin' about it this afternoon."  
Buck Merril was Dally's rodeo partner. He was the one who'd got Dally the job as a jockey for the Slash J. Buck raised a few quarter horses, and made most of his money on fixed races and a little bootlegging.**

"A little?!" Tim raised his eyebrows. "Now that's the understatement of the year."

**I was under strict orders from both Darry and Soda not to get caught within ten miles of his place, which was dandy with me. **

Darry and Soda looked relived. "Now that's one thing I don't need to worry about." Darry muttered.

But Soda grinned at him. "I told ya he wasn't going behind our back." He said as he punched Darry affectionately on the arm.

Pony raised his eyebrows. "Me going behind your back? Do I look like an idiot to you?"

Darry grinned at him sheepishly.

**I didn't like Buck Merril. He was a tall lanky cowboy with blond hair and buckteeth. Or he used to be bucktoothed before he had the front two knocked out in a fight. He was out of it. He dug Hank Williams- how gross can you get?  
**

Everybody shuddered as Darry read that part.

"He may be gross," Tim said. "But he sure as hell is easy to manipulate."

Two-Bit grinned at him. "I know what you're talking about."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me this about drinking."

**Buck answered the door when we knocked, and a roar of cheap music came with him. The clinking of glasses, loud, rough laughter and female giggles, and Hank Williams. It scraped on my raw nerves like sandpaper. **

Tim looked surprised. He turned to his kid brother and said, "And you're friends with Pony, how?"

Curly rolled his eyes. "Ya wouldn't understand."

Tim raised his eyebrows but in the inside he was fuming. If he didn't understand his kid brother than who would? "Try me." He dared.

Curly opened his mouth but then quickly closed it again. "Later." He mumbled.

**A can of beer in one hand, Buck glared down at us. "Whatta ya want?"  
"Dally!" Johnny gulped, looking back over his shoulder. "We gotta see Dally."  
"He's busy," Buck snapped, and someone in his living room yelled "A-ha!"**

Two-Bit raised his eyebrows. "I bet five bucks that I know what Dally's 'busy' about."

Steve shook his hand. "You're on. What do you think he's doing?"

Two-Bit leaned over and whispered in his ears. Steve made a face and shook his head. "That's nasty, Two-Bit but we'll see who wins."

**and then "Yee-ha," and the sound of it almost made my nerves snap.  
"Tell him it's Pony and Johnny," I commanded. I knew Buck, and the only way you could get anything from him was to bully him. **

Soda waggled his eyebrows at Pony. "Are bullying somebody twice your size, Pone? Come here you little greaser!" Soda said as he tickled Pony down.

Darry rolled his eyes at his kid brothers. Both of them were crazy, outta there minds!

**I guess that's why Dallas could handle him so easily, although Buck was in his mid-twenties and Dally was seventeen. "He'll come."  
**

"You sound so sure of yourself." Steve said.

"Johnny was with us. Dally would always come to help out Johnny." Pony said softly.

That wiped off the smirks outta everybody's faces.

"Good 'ole buddies they were." Steve said with longing.

**Buck glared at me for a second, then stumbled, off. He was pretty well crocked, which made me apprehensive. If Dally was drunk and in a dangerous mood...  
He appeared in a few minutes, clad only in a pair of low-cut blue jeans, scratching the hair on his chest. He was sober enough, and that surprised me. Maybe he hadn't been there long.  
**

Two-Bit rolled his eyes. "We don't get drunk all the time we go to Buck's."

Soda looked surprised. "Ya don't?"

Two-Bit narrowed his eyes. "Watch it, Curtis."

**"Okay, kids, whatta ya need me for?"  
As Johnny told him the story, I studied Dally, trying to figure out what there was about this tough-looking hood that a girl like Cherry Valance could love. Towheaded and shifty-eyed, Dally was anything but handsome.**

Everybody howled in laughter. Soda and Two-Bit had to actually clutch the table to support themselves so they wouldn't fall off their seats.

"Glory Ponyboy! If Dallas had heard that, he would've whipped your ass right outta Tulsa!" Steve said in between his laughter.

Pony blushed. "It's true!"

This only caused the gang to double up again in laughter while Pony flushed embarrassingly.

**Yet in his hard face there was character, pride, and a savage defiance of the world. He could never love Cherry Valance back. It would be a miracle if Dally loved anything. The fight for self-preservation had hardened him beyond caring.  
**

For once, Pony was wrong, Two-Bit thought sadly. Dally did love somebody and he loved Johnny enough to kill himself 'cause he couldn't stand the fact about a world without Johnny Cade.

**He didn't bat an eye when Johnny told him what had happened, only grinned and said "Good for you" when Johnny told how he had knifed the Soc. **

Tim snorted. "That's Dallas for ya'll."

**Finally Johnny finished. "We figured you could get us out if anyone could. I'm sorry we got you away from the party."  
"Oh, shoot, kid"- Dally glanced contemptuously over his shoulder- "I was in the bedroom."  
He suddenly stared at me. "Glory, but your ears can get red, Ponyboy."  
I was remembering what usually went on in the bed rooms at Buck's parties.**

Everybody just burst out in laughter all over again. This time though, Soda just fell to the floor and continued his laughter.

Two-Bit ruffled Pony's hair affectionately. "Gosh but who knew you had a humorous side to ya? Not to mention a dirty mind!" Two-Bit howled as he laughed.

But Two-Bit stopped laughing as he realized something. "Hey Stevie! That means I won the bet! You better pay up!"

"Shit." Steve mumbled as he digged out some money to pay Two-Bit.

But Darry was frowning at Ponyboy. "How would you know what went on in the bedrooms at Buck's parties? You were only 14 when you wrote this!"

Pony rolled his eyes. "Exactly, Darry."

**Then Dally grinned in amused realization. "It wasn't anything like that, kid. I was asleep, or tryin' to be, with all this racket.**

Curly grinned. "See Pony? Ya need to keep your dirty mind in place."

Pony punched his arms jokingly.

**Hank Williams"- he rolled his eyes and added a few adjectives after 'Hank Williams.' **

Soda affectionately ruffled Pony's hair. "Now here's a good kid. You didn't write any of those cuss words Dallas said."

Pony looked embarrassed. "Soda, I ain't a kid."

Soda just smiled at him. "Mmhmm." Was all he said.

**"Me and Shepard had a run-in and I cracked some ribs. I just needed a place to lay over." He rubbed his side ruefully. "Ol' Tim sure can pack a punch.**

"I sure as hell can!" Tim said, looking proud.

**He won't be able to see outa one eye for a week."**

Tim grimaced. "Those days were terrible."

"But funny as hell for Angel and me." Curly mumbled.

Tim raised his eyebrows. "What did ya say, Curly?"

"Nothing!" Curly said quickly because he knew him and Angela would get there head busted if they ever told Tim about the things they did that week. He felt Pony's glance at him and smiled sheepishly.

**He looked us over and sighed. "Well, wait a sec and I'll see what I can do about this mess." Then he took a good look at me. "Ponyboy, are you wet?"  
"Y-y-yes-s," I stammered through chattering teeth.  
"Glory hallelujah!" He opened the screen door and pulled me in, motioning for Johnny to follow. "You'll die of pneumonia 'fore the cops ever get you."  
**

"Finally! Somebody realizes that he doesn't have a jacket!" Darry practically shouted.

Pony rolled his eyes. "Yes Dare. We are all aware of that."

Darry glared at him. "Don't get mouthy with me, Pony."

**He half-dragged me into an empty bedroom, swearing at me all the way. "Get that sweat shirt off." He threw a towel at me. "Dry off and wait here. At least Johnny's got his jeans jacket. You ought to know better than to run away in just a sweat shirt, and a wet one at that. Don't you ever use your head?" He sounded so much like Darry that I stared at him. **

Darry winced. He knew he was on better terms with Pony now but how could he have been so stupid before?

**He didn't notice, and left us sitting on the bed.  
Johnny lay back on it. "Wish I had me a weed."  
My knees were shaking as I finished drying off, sitting there in my jeans.  
Dally appeared after a minute. He carefully shut the door. "Here"- he handed us a gun and a roll of bills- **

Darry growled. "I wish I can bring him back alive so I can bust his head open for being so stupid to trust kids with a gun."

"You better let me have a go at him." Soda muttered darkly.

**"the gun's loaded. For Pete's sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me. **

Steve laughed. "I can imagine little Johnnycake looking so confused and accidently point the gun at Dallas."

Pony smiled at him. "It sure was funny."

**Here's fifty bucks. That's all I could get out of Merril tonight He's blowin' his loot from that last race."  
**

"When does he not blow away all his money?" Tim grumbled.

**You might have thought it was Dally who fixed those races for Buck, being a jockey and all, but it wasn't. The last guy to suggest it lost three teeth. It's the truth. Dally rode the ponies honestly and did his best to win. It was the only thing Dally did honestly.  
**

Everybody thought about it.

"He's right," Two-Bit said, surprised. "Here I thought Dally lied and cheated all this time."

Pony rolled his eyes. "I'm always right."

"Don't get cocky, Ponyboy." Two-Bit snorted.

**"Pony, do Darry and Sodapop know about this?"  
I shook my head. Dally sighed. "Boy howdy, I ain't itchin' to be the one to tell Darry and get my head busted."  
**

Darry snorted. "I'm not that nice. I'd kill 'em, not bust his head open. That's too generous."

Pony rolled his eyes but Darry caught him doing it.

"What?!" He demanded. "He was sending my kid brother out alone with a gun and 50 bucks without telling me! He sees me growing gray hair from worry but he doesn't say shit! I have every right to kill 'em."

"Whatever you say, Dar." Pony said and he and Soda exchanged smiles with each other.

**"Then don't tell him," I said. I hated to worry Sodapop, and would have liked to let him know I had gotten this far okay,**

Soda reached over and hugged Pony. "At least you had the intention of telling me, Pone. I was worried that you didn't trust like I thought you did."

Pony smiled at him. "I trust you with my whole life, Sodapop Curtis."

**but I didn't care if Darry worried himself gray-headed.**

Darry winced. He couldn't believe he drove his kid brother to the point where he thought he didn't even love him.

Pony noticed Darry's melancholy face and reached over hugged him.

"I don't mean any of this." Pony murmured. Then he let go and smiled down at Darry. "Besides, gray just ain't your color."

Darry grinned and punched his brother's rib affectionately.

**I was too tired to tell myself I was being mean and unreasonable. **

Two-Bit snorted. "Kid, you're always like that."

"Am not!" Pony retorted.

"Are to!" Two-Bit countered.

"Am not!"

"Pony, Two-Bit stop it." Darry said wearily. He had to stop the two of them. He knew his brother was as stubborn as an ox and Pony wouldn't stop saying, 'Am not!' until he lost his voice. Even that wouldn't stop his kid brother; he'd just go on writing it on paper until Two-Bit caved in.

**I convinced myself it wouldn't be fair to make Dally tell him. Darry would beat him to death for giving us the money and the gun and getting us out of town.  
**

"I sure as hell will." Darry grumbled.

"And I'd help." Soda added.

**"Here!" Dally handed me a shirt about sixty million sizes too big.**

Curly snorted. "Exaggerate much, Curtis?"

Pony shrugged. "It really was big."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Don't ya think we got that by now?"

**"It's Buck's- you an' him ain't exactly the same size, but it's dry." He handed me his worn brown leather jacket with the yellow sheep's-wool lining. **

"You finally got a jacket!" Darry cried.

Soda looked tiredly at his older brother. "Really Dare, Pony's sitting right next to us. He didn't die of freaking hypothermia."

"He could have." Darry mumbled.

**"It'll get cold where you're going, but you can't risk being loaded down with blankets."  
I started buttoning up the shirt. It about swallowed me.**

Soda grinned at Pony. "I can just imagine it."

But Two-Bit was confused. "How does a shirt swallow you?"

Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "It's an expression, you dolt."

**"Hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrixville," Dally instructed. "There's an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. There's a pump in back so don't worry about water.**

"Wait, how did you guys go to the bathroom?" Steve interrupted.

Pony shrugged. "Ya know how the area's a picnic place?" Everybody nodded their head. "Well, they had a couple of those outhouses around."

Steve made a face. "That's just gross."

"Hey, we were lucky to have a supply of water and convenient bathroom. Most people can't say that when they're running away." Pony said.

"Remind me to take you if I ever run away." Curly grinned.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." Darry and Tim said at the same exact time.

**Buy a week's supply of food as soon as you get there- this morning, before the story gets out, and then don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I think it's clear. Man, I thought New York was the only place I could get mixed up in a murder rap."  
At the word "murder," Johnny made a small noise in his throat and shuddered.  
**

"Oh Johnny," Two-Bit said softly. "He really shouldn't have lived with that guilt."

"That soc deserved it." Tim said shortly.

**Dally walked us back to the door, turning off the porch light before we stepped out. "Git goin'!" He messed up Johnny's hair. "Take care, kid," he said softly.  
"Sure, Dally, thanks." And we ran into the darkness.**

"Well, at least you guys got some help and trusted somebody." Darry said and his voice shook a little towards the end.

"Darry, I trust you with all my life. You and Soda. I don't know about Steve and Two-Bit…" Pony said as he winked at the other two.

**WE CROUCHED IN THE WEEDS beside the railroad tracks, lis tening to the whistle grow louder. The train slowed to a screaming halt. "Now," whispered Johnny. We ran and pulled ourselves into an open boxcar. We pressed against the side, trying to hold our breath while we listened to the railroad workers walk up and down outside. One poked his head inside, and we froze. But he didn't see us, and the boxcar rattled as the train started up.**

"You must feel like a real fugitive, don't ya?" Steve smirked.

"Sure Steve; whatever floats you're boat." Pony said while rolling his eyes.

**"The first stop'll be Windrixville," Johnny said, laying the gun down gingerly. He shook his head. "I don't see why he gave me this. I couldn't shoot anybody."  
Then for the first time, really, I realized what we were in for. **

"Aren't you slow?" Two-Bit snorted.

"Hey! It was the first time I wasn't running and pumped up with adrenaline!" Ponyboy protested.

**Johnny had killed someone. Quiet, soft-spoken little Johnny, who wouldn't hurt a living thing on purpose, had taken a human life. We were really running away, with the police after us for murder and a loaded gun by our side. I wished we'd asked Dally for a pack of cigarettes...  
**

Darry frowned. "You are too addicted." He said to Ponyboy. "I am going to have to limit how much you use now."

Pony opened his mouth to protest but Darry raised his hand to silence him.

"We'll talk about this later." He said.

Pony leaned back in his seat and huffed. He knew it wasn't a good idea for them to read his theme, he thought darkly.

**I stretched out and used Johnny's legs for a pillow. Curling up, I was thankful for Dally's jacket. It was too big, but it was warm. **

Darry shot Soda an '_I told you so'_ face which Soda rolled his eyes to.

**Not even the rattling of the train could keep me awake, and I went to sleep in a hoodlum's jacket, with a gun lying next to my hand.**

Everybody blinked in surprised.

"Wow Pony, that was so..." Soda struggled to find the right words.

"Deep?" Steve offered.

"Yeah, deep." Soda nodded. "You really should consider being an author when you grow up."

"That's what I want to be." Pony said brightly, happy that finally somebody understood him.

"You do?" Darry said worriedly.

"Yeah." Pony narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why so worried Dare?"

"Well, you sure as hell can write but it's like a one in a million kinda thing to become bestseller." Darry said uncomfortably.

"I can handle it just fine." Pony said hotly.

Darry looked up with pleading eyes. "I don't doubt you, little buddy. But don't let things like rejection or one bad critic put you down."

Pony rolled his eyes, now seeing where Darry was getting at. "Darry, don't worry. I ain't writing a book now. You worry too much to be healthy." He added.

Darry grinned at him. "It's my job."

"Mine too. But nowadays you're making it difficult." Soda winked.

Ponyboy grinned at his brothers. He sure was lucky to have the best brothers any kid could get. He wouldn't trade them for a trillion dollars.

"If ya'll are done discussing about things that won't be happening for years," Two-Bit said while raising his eyebrows. "Then I suggest Darry continue the reading."

I WAS HARDLY AWAKE when Johnny and I leaped off the train into a meadow. Not until I landed in the dew and got a wet shock did I realize what I was doing.

"For someone who's so smart, you're really slow on picking up things in real life." Curly said while rolling his eyes.

**Johnny must have woke me up and told me to jump, but I didn't remember it. We lay in the tall weeds and damp grass, breathing heavily. The dawn was coming. It was lightening the sky in the east and a ray of gold touched the hills. The clouds were pink and meadow larks were singing. This is the country, I thought, half asleep. My dream's come true and I'm in the country.  
**

Darry looked thoughtful. "You really do love the country, Pony?"

Pony nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Darry and Soda gave each other knowing glances. They knew exactly what they were going to do the next time break came around again.

**"Blast it, Ponyboy"- Johnny was rubbing his legs- "you must have put my legs to sleep. I can't even stand up. I barely got off that train."  
**

Two-Bit snorted. "Nice job Pony. Put the kid's leg to sleep while you guys are running away."

Pony smacked his head. "Shut ya trap, Mathews."

**"I'm sorry. Why didn't you wake me up?"  
"That's okay. I didn't want to wake you up until I had to."  
"Now how do we find Jay Mountain?" I asked Johnny. I was still groggy with sleep and wanted to sleep forever right there in the dew and the dawn.  
**

Steve rolled his eyes. "Why do you so many hyperboles, Pony?"

Pony just smiled. "It's called figurative language, Steve. If you paid attention in your English class, then you would know why."

**"Go ask someone. The story won't be in the paper yet. Make like a farm boy taking a walk or something."  
"I don't look like a farm boy," I said. **

Two-Bit stared at Pony.

"What now?" Pony asked.

"Just seeing if you looked like a farm boy; you don't."

Pony rolled his eyes. "We went over that already.

**I suddenly thought of my long hair, combed back, and the slouching stride I used from habit. I looked at Johnny. He didn't look like any farm boy to me. **

Tim shook his head. "What did you expect?! You guys are greasers, not some farm boy!"

**He still reminded me of a lost puppy who had been kicked too often, but for the first time I saw him as a stranger might see him. He looked hard and tough, because of his black T-shirt and his blue jeans and jacket, and because his hair was heavily greased and so long. I saw how his hair curled behind his ears and I thought: We both need a haircut and some decent clothes.**

Tim looked indignant. "What's wrong with greaser clothes?"

**I looked down at my worn, faded blue jeans, my too-big shirt, and Dally's worn-out jacket. They'll know we're hoods the minute they see us, I thought.  
"I'll have to stay here," Johnny said, rubbing his legs. "You go down the road and ask the first person you see where Jay Mountain is." He winced at the pain in his legs. "Then come back. And for Pete's sake, run a comb through your hair and quit slouching down like a thug."  
**

Darry and Soda laughed. They really could imagine their kid brother slouching with bedhead and trying to pretend to be a farm boy.

Ponyboy blushed. "Stop laughing at me!" He cried.

**So Johnny had noticed it too. I pulled a comb from my back pocket and combed my hair carefully. "I guess I look okay now, huh, Johnny?"  
He was studying me. "You know, you look an awful lot like Sodapop, the way you've got your hair and everything. I mean, except your eyes are green."  
**

Soda threw his hand over his chest. "I'm flattered! It ain't everyday somebody tells me that I look like my handsome kid brother!" Soda winked at Pony.

The redness in Pony's cheek deepened. "Soda, stop it!" He cried

Soda just winked at him.

**"They ain't green, they're gray," I said, reddening. "And I look about as much like Soda as you do." I got to my feet. "He's good-looking."  
**

Two-Bit howled. "Kid, you really do look Soda. Any nut job can tell that you guys are brothers."

**"Shoot," Johnny said with a grin, "you are, too."  
I climbed over the barbed-wire fence without saying anything else. I could hear Johnny laughing at me, but I didn't care. **

Everybody laughed at Pony just like Johnny was laughing at him.

"You're so sensitive!" Soda cried as he hugged his kid brother.

**I went strolling down the red dirt road, hoping my natural color would come back before I met anyone. I wonder what Darry and Sodapop are doing now, I thought, yawning.**

"Worrying their heads, that's what they were doing." Darry mumbled.

**Soda had the whole bed to himself for once. **

Soda shuddered. "That was the worst night of my life. I refused to sleep in that bed while you were gone; I just slept on the couch or Darry's room."

**I bet Darry's sorry he ever hit me.**

"Saying that I'm sorry is an understatement." Darry said sincerely to Ponyboy.

Ponyboy nodded his head and smiled. "I know, Darry. And you're forgiven."

Steve just mumbled under his breath that Pony's too forgiving and Soda slapped him on the back of his head.

**He'll really get worried when he finds out Johnny and I killed that Soc. Then, for a moment, I pictured Sodapop's face when he heard about it.**

"Probably didn't even come close to real thing." Two-Bit said wearily. "He was crying like there was no tomorrow."

"Without Pony, there is no tomorrow for me." Soda said defiantly and Pony smiled at him.

**I wish I was home, I thought absently, I wish I was home and still in bed. Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just dreaming...**

"Oh kid, I wish that too." Darry said sadly.

But Steve smiled. "Kid, if you had dreamt about that whole week, I'd sent you to a mental institution so fast it would make your delusional head spin." **  
**

**It was only last night that Dally and I had sat down behind those girls at the Nightly Double. Glory, I thought with a bewildering feeling of being rushed, things are happening too quick. Too fast.**

"Too fast?!" Soda cried. "It was going so _slow _for me! For once you weren't under my watch, for once I had no clue where you were and how you were feeling and it was tearing me apart! And you have the nerve to say that it was going by _'too fast'_!"

Everybody looked surprised at Soda's outburst but Pony got up and held him until he calmed down.

"Oh Pepsi-Cola," Pony said as he messed up his brother's hair. "That week was terrible for me too because for once I wasn't under your and Darry's protection. I never felt so lonely."

Two-Bit groaned. "You Curtis brothers are going to be the death of me with all these moments! It's just too much for my fragile heart!"

**I figured I couldn't get into any worse trouble than murder. Johnny and I would be hiding for the rest of our lives. **

"No you wouldn't. I'd hunt every little corner on this earth looking for you." Darry said sincerely.

**Nobody but Dally would know where we were, and he couldn't tell anyone because he'd get jailed again for giving us that gun. If Johnny got caught, they'd give him the electric chair, and if they caught me, I'd be sent to a reformatory. I'd heard about reformatories from Curly Shepard**

"I am finally mentioned!" Curly cheered. "I thought you forgot about me, Curtis!"

Pony smiled. He loved to see that his theme had such a major impact on his gang and the Shepard's but he was still a little weary. If they were surprised by these secrets, then they'd flip about what was coming next.

**and I didn't want to go to one at all., **

Curly just shrugged. "They ain't that bad. You just need to toughen up."

**So we'd have to be hermits for the rest of our lives, and never see anyone but Dally. Maybe I'd never see Darry or Sodapop again.**

Soda looked closed to tears. "That would be terrible!"

Two-Bit reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue and passed it to Soda. "Would ya like something to blow your nose on, drama queen?"

Soda tackled him off his chair and both greasers were rolling on the floor. It took the combined forces of Darry and Steve to rip the two greasers off of each other.

**Or even Two-Bit or Steve.**

Two-Bit rolled his eyes as he climbed back onto his chair. "Glad you remembered us, Pone."

**I was in the country, but I knew I wasn't going to like it as much as I'd thought I would. There are things worse than being a greaser.  
**

"What's wrong with being a greaser?" Tim demanded.

"I was just saying." Pony said while grinning inwardly.

**I met a sunburned farmer driving a tractor down the road. I waved at him and he stopped.  
"Could you tell me where Jay Mountain is?" I asked as politely as I could.  
He pointed on down the road. "Follow this road to that big hill over there. That's it. Taking a walk?"  
"Yessir." I managed to look sheepish. "We're playing army and I'm supposed to report to headquarters there."  
**

"Playing army? What are you, five or something?" Steve asked while shaking his head.

**I can lie so easily that it spooks me sometimes- Soda says it comes from reading so much. But then, Two-Bit lies all the time too, and he never opens a book.  
**

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrows. "You think I'm lying but maybe I'm not."

Soda's head just spun as he tried to process that thought. "Shut up Mathews before I get a headache." He grumbled.

**"Boys will be boys," the farmer said with a grin, and I thought dully that he sounded as corn-poney as Hank Williams. He went on and I walked back to where Johnny was waiting.**

"I can't believe he believed that. You guys look too young to be playing 'army'" Steve said while he rolled his eyes.

WE CLIMBED UP THE ROAD to the church, although it was a lot farther away than it looked. The road got steeper with every step. I was feeling kind of drunk

Darry narrowed his eyes at Pony. "You haven't started drinking, did you?"

Pony shook his head. "Of course not, Dare."

**- I always do when I get too sleepy- and my legs got heavier and heavier. I guess Johnny was sleepier than I was- he had stayed awake on the train to make sure we got off at the right place.**

Steve nodded his head approvingly. "Now that's a buddy."

**It took us about forty-five minutes to get there.**

Two-Bit tilted his head. "That's quite a walk. But I guess this Ponyboy we're talking about and he 'likes to walk'." He said while rolling his eyes.

**We climbed in a back window. It was a small church, real old and spooky and spiderwebby. It gave me the creeps.  
**

The whole gang looked uncomfortable.

"I can't believe you lived in that for a week." Steve looked disgusted.

Pony shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers."

**I'd been in church before. I used to go all the time, even after Mom and Dad were gone. Then one Sunday I talked Soda into coming with Johnny and me. He didn't want to come unless Steve did, and Two-Bit decided he might as well come too. **

"Tag along." Steve mumbled.

"What was that, Randle?" Two-Bit asked.

"Oh nothing." He said innocently.

**Dally was sleeping off a hangover, and Darry was working. **

Soda shooked his head. "Darry, you need to take more days off."

**When Johnny and I went, we sat in the back, trying to get something out of the sermon and avoiding the people, because we weren't dressed so sharp most of the time. Nobody seemed to mind, and Johnny and I really liked to go. But that day... well, Soda can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie, much less a sermon. **

Soda grinned at the memory. Boy, did they have fun! He thought.

**It wasn't long before he and Steve and Two-Bit were throwing paper wads at each other and clowning around, and finally Steve dropped a hymn book with a bang- accidentally, of course.**

"Hey! It really was an accident." Steve protested.

"Sure." Pony said sarcastically.

**Everyone in the place turned around to look at us, and Johnny and I nearly crawled under the pews. And then Two-Bit waved at them.  
I hadn't been to church since.  
**

The grin on Soda's face was quickly wiped off and Darry turned onto.

"Jeez Soda! What a way to break a good habit the kid had!" Darry shouted.

"I didn't know!" Soda cried. "Pony, I'm soo sorry that I embarrassed you! Right guys?" Soda glared at Steve and Two-Bit.

They quickly nodded their heads. They wanted to live to see the next day.

Pony grinned. "It's okay Soda, don't worry about it."

**But this church gave me a kind of creepy feeling. What do you call it? Premonition?**

Curly blinked. "What the hell is premonition?"

"A feeling of anticipation of or anxiety over a future event." Pony recited.

Curly just shook his head. "You're way too brainy to live."

**I flopped down on the floor- and immediately decided not to do any more flopping. **

"That should teach to respect the couch more." Darry grumbled.

**That floor was stone, and hard. Johnny stretched out beside me, resting his head on his arm. I started to say something to him, but I went to sleep before I could get the words out of my mouth. But Johnny didn't notice. He was asleep, too.**

Darry closed the theme. "Well, that was the end of that chapter."

"So?" Two-Bit asked. "Let's read the next one!"

Soda groaned. "Can we move to the living room? These chairs are getting uncomfortable."

As they got up and stretched to proceed into the living room, everybody heard the door slam open."

"Tim, Curly? You guys there?" Somebody called out.

**A/N: Well there you go! I hope ya'll like it. Might not update for awhile, just warning ya.**

**Wanna a faster update? Well, just leave a review! Scroll down, type up something nice or a suggestion, and if I have enough of reviews, I'll update sonner than planned! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey guys! I got this up for you! Sorry if it took awhile, I've been busy with school and such. Thank you for reviewing! You guys are the best! Oh and thank you for bringing the attention of some parts not being bold! The things is that I have it bold on Microsoft Word but when I transfer it, some of them unbold. It's so weird but thank you for bringing it to my attention! You guys are the best!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsider but if I did, I'd have added a bit more of Dally's background. Kinda curious about him.**

Everybody turned around to see Angela Shepard leaning against the doorway. She cocked at her two brothers, who were looking her dumb strucked.

"What are you two doing here? You're whole gang is looking for you and you guys are just chillin' at the Curtis's." She said as she rolled her eyes. Then she noticed Pony in the room and quickly got up and smiled at him.

"Hey Curtis." She said sweetly as she tucked her curly hair behind her ear.

"Hey." Darry, Soda and Ponyboy said at the same exact time. They looked at each other in surprised and cracked up.

"You meant all of us, right Angel?" Soda laughed.

Angela's face flushed. "Umm, yeah." She said with a pout on her face as she watch Pony, who was arm wrestling Two-Bit at the time.

Tim looked at her. "So they need us now?"

She nodded. "They want a rumble with the Brumly boys."

Tim cursed and Curly looked surprised but happy. "All right, tell them we're coming." Tim said tiredly.

Angela nodded again and with one look at Pony, turned around and ran back into the streets.

Tim turned towards the gang, who were lounging around the couch. "You guys better not read about the rumble without me, ya hear?"

"Ya, we heard real good." Soda grinned.

Tim narrowed his eyes at him. "Good." He grunted as he turned around and walked out of the door. One last wave from Curly and the Shepards were gone.

"Shall I?" Soda asked as he picked Pony's theme.

Everybody except Ponyboy, who rolled his eyes, nodded their head eagerly.

Soda grinned at the gang's enthusiasm. He cleared his throat and began to read.

**Chapter 5**

**I WOKE UP LATE IN the afternoon. For a second I didn't know where I was. You know how it is, when you wake up in a strange place and wonder where in the world you are, until memory comes rushing over you like a wave.**

Two-Bit blinked. "I actually never felt like that. So I guess I don't know."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "This theme wasn't meant for idiots."

Two-Bit narrowed his eyes at him. "Can I kill your kid brother?" Two-Bit asked the two elder Curtis brothers.

"Nope." They both said and Pony stuck his tongue out at him.

**I half convinced myself that I had dreamed everything that had happened the night before. **

Darry looked miserable. "I wished that the whole time too."

Soda looked at Pony. "Don't you ever make us worry like that again, ya dig?"

Ponyboy smiled at his brother's protectiveness. "Don't worry Soda, I learned my lesson. Never point an unloaded gun at a cop."

Soda and Darry frowned at him. "We're not kidding, Pone."

Pony winked at them, wanting to lighten the mood. It worked; Darry groaned and Two-Bit and Soda burst out into laughter.

**I'm really home in bed, I thought. It's late and both Darry and Sodapop are up. Darry's cooking breakfast, and in a minute he and Soda will come in and drag me out of bed and wrestle me down and tickle me until I think I'll die if they don't stop. **

Steve smiled inwardly. Even though they're parents had died and even though they had been struggling with money, they still found the little joys in life. They still made sure their kid brother never felt lonely and they were always there for Pony. It was that reason he loved the Curtis brothers so much. Yes, that was also including Pony. Ponyboy might be tag along and he could be too stubborn for his own good but he had that same trait that made the Curtis brothers so special. They were loyal down to the bone and probably the best buddies any guy could have. He might not have it great at his home but he was glad that he had the Curtis brothers to go to. Most people weren't like that and he sure was glad that he had been blessed.

**It's me and Soda's turn to do the dishes after we eat, and then we'll all go outside and play football. Johnny and Two-Bit and I will get Darry on our side, since Johnny and I are so small and Darry's the best player. **

Darry reached over and ruffled his kid brother's hair affectionately. "Thanks kiddo, although I already knew that."

Pony grinned at him. "Cocky much, Darry?"

**It'll go like the usual weekend morning. I tried telling myself that while I lay on the cold rock floor, wrapped up in Dally's jacket and listening to the wind rushing through the trees' dry leaves outside.  
**

Two-Bit whistled. "You're in a pit full of denial, Pony."

Ponyboy just shrugged.

**Finally I quit pretending and pushed myself up. I was stiff and sore from sleeping on that hard floor, but I had never slept so soundly.**

Soda cocked his eyes. "What are you trying tell me, Pone?"

Pony grinned at him. "That you snore in your sleep."

"Why you little-" Soda said as he playfully tackled Pony to the floor.

**I was still groggy. I pushed off Johnny's jeans jacket, which had somehow got thrown across me,**

Two-Bit snorted. "You really don't use your head, do you?"

"Shut it, Mathews." Pony snapped.

**and blinked, scratching my head. It was awful quiet, with just the sound of rushing wind in the trees. Suddenly I realized that Johnny wasn't there.  
"Johnny?" I called loudly, and that old wooden church echoed me, onny onny... I looked around wildly, almost panic-stricken, **

"Oh Pony," Soda whispered. "I wish I could be there for you."

Pony smiled at him. "You were. In here." He said as he pointed at his chest.

**but then caught sight of some crooked lettering written in the dust of the floor. Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C.  
**

"At least he left a note." Steve pointed out.

"He'd be stupid not to." Two-Bit said as he rolled his eyes.

**I sighed, and went to the pump to get a drink. The water from it was like liquid ice and it tasted funny, but it was water. **

Darry frowned. "If it tasted funny, then you shouldn't have drunk it. It could have been filled with bacteria and you don't know where that water came from and-"

"Darry, I'm fine." Ponyboy said tiredly.

"But still." Darry said with concern.

**I splashed some on my face and that woke me up pretty quick. I wiped my face off on Johnny's jacket and sat down on the back steps. **

Two-Bit laughed. "Johnny must of have liked that real good."

Ponyboy chuckled at him. "He sure did."

**The hill the church was on dropped off suddenly about twenty feet from the back door, and you could see for miles and miles. It was like sitting on the top of the world.  
**

"Could ya see my house?" Two-Bit joked.

Steve groaned. "You're hopeless, Two-Bit."

**When you haven't got anything to do, you remember things in spite of yourself.**

"You do?" Two-Bit joked again.

Ponyboy sighed with exasperation. "Two-Bit, go out and get yourself a life."

Darry and Soda howled with laughter and Steve thumped his back. Two-Bit however, narrowed his eyes at him.

"Oh, you're so lucky your brothers are here." He spat out.

Darry raised his eyebrows. "And if we weren't?"

"You'd be crying over his dead body." Two-Bit said shortly.

"Not over mine." Soda said while raising his eyebrows.

**I could remember every detail of the whole night, but it had the unreal quality of a dream. It seemed much longer than twenty-four hours since Johnny and I had met Dally at the corner of Pickett and Sutton. Maybe it was. Maybe Johnny had been gone a whole week and I had just slept. **

Two-Bit blinked. "Gosh but you got some wild imagination, Ponyboy."

"A bit too wild." Soda said while ruffling Pony's hair affectionately.

**Maybe he had already been worked over by the fuzz and was waiting to get the electric chair since he wouldn't tell where I was. Maybe Dally had been killed in a car wreck or something and no one would ever know where I was, and I'd just die up here, alone, and turn into a skeleton.**

Darry and Soda looked stricken. They didn't really understood what happened to Pony when he ran away but they were knew for sure that Dally knew where they were when they found Pony's sweatshirt in his room. But what if Dally had died before telling anybody where they were? Soda and Darry shuddered. They couldn't even dwell on that thought.

**My over-active imagination was running away with me again. Sweat ran down my face and back, and I was trembling. My head swam, and I leaned back and closed my eyes.**

"It's probably delayed shock, Pone." Darry reassured him.

"I know." Pony said with a secretive smile creeping on his face.

**I guess it was partly delayed shock.**

Darry grinned at him. "So there are some things remember in that thing you call a brain?"

"Oh can it, Darry." Ponyboy said while blushing and Darry gave out a booming laugh.

"I'm just messin' with ya, little buddy." Darry grinned.

**Finally my stomach calmed down and I relaxed a little, hoping that Johnny would remember cigarettes. **

Steve rolled his eyes. "What's up with you and weed? It's like Darry and you not having a jacket."

"Hey!" Darry and Pony shouted.

**I was scared, sitting there by myself.  
**

Soda groaned as he went over and hugged his kid brother. "Kid, I swear, you'll be the death of me, I swear by it with everything I have."

**I heard someone coming up through the dead leaves toward the back of the church, and I ducked inside the door. Then I heard a whistle, long and low, ending in a sudden high note. **

"You mean this whistle?" Two-Bit said as he whistled the same tune Pony mentioned in his theme.

Soda rolled his eyes. "You know any other whistles, Two-Bit?"

**I knew that whistle well enough. It was used by us and the Shepard gang for "Who's there?" I returned it carefully, then darted out the door so fast that I fell off the steps and sprawled flat under Johnny's nose.  
**

Steve laughed. "Real smooth, Ponyboy."

Ponyboy blushed. "Hey! I was soo glad to see him, that's all!"

**I propped myself on my elbows and grinned up at him. "Hey, Johnny. Fancy meetin' you here."  
**

Two-Bit groaned. "That was the worst comeback ever!"

Ponyboy raised his eyebrows. "You really think so?"

"Yes!" Two-Bit replied.

"Soda, keep on reading." Ponyboy said while smiling.

**He looked down at me over a big package. "I swear, Ponyboy, you're gettin' to act more like Two-Bit every day."  
**

"No way! I am not that corny!" Two-Bit shouted.

Steve clucked his tongue with sympathy. "You're in major denial, Two-Bit."

"I am not!" Two-Bit said desperately.

Soda shook his head in disapproval while he and Pony shared a smile.

**I tried unsuccessfully to cock an eyebrow. "Who's acting?" I rolled over and sprang up, happy that someone was there. "What'd you get?"  
"Come on inside. Dally told us to stay inside."  
**

Soda snorted. "Johnny sounds like an adult. This is a new twist."

"You don't say." Steve said to his buddy while punching him on the arm.

**We went in. Johnny dusted off a table with his jacket and started taking things out of the sack and lining them up neatly. "A week's supply of baloney, two loaves of bread, a box of matches..." Johnny went on.  
I got tired of watching him do it all, so I started digging into the sack myself.**

Soda grinned at Pony. "You're a kid at heart, ain't you Pony?"

But Darry groaned. "I hate it when you do that! You dig around, looking for the things you want and then you leave the contents all over the place and don't even bother to clean it up."

Ponyboy shrugged. "You always clean up, so why do I?"

Steve gave a big whoop. "That's how you do it, Pony!" And he high fived him.

**"Wheee!" I sat down on a dusty chair and stared.**

"I bet it's a pack of cigarette." Two-Bit said smugly.

"You'll see." Ponyboy smiled.

**"A paperback copy of Gone with the Wind!**

Two-Bit gave Ponyboy a 'you're kidding me' look. "Really Pony? A book? That's what makes you so happy?"

"It's who I am. Deal with it." Pony said.

"Smartass." Two-Bit muttered.

**How'd you know I always wanted one?"  
**

"I knew you wanted a copy. I was gonna buy you it." Soda said proudly.

Ponyboy grinned. "You didn't have to."

"No, but I wanted to." Soda smiled.

**Johnny reddened. "I remembered you sayin' something about it once. And me and you went to see that movie, 'member? I thought you could maybe read it out loud and help kill time or something."  
**

Darry sighed. "At least you're raising your IQ."

Two-Bit cocked his eyebrows. "Your kid brother runs away and you're glad he's raising his IQ while he's at it?"

"Two-Bit, you are this close to getting your ass whipped!" Darry hollered.

Two-Bit pouted. "But Superman's supposed to use his powers for good!"

"Shutting your mouth will do us all some good." Darry mumbled.

**"Gee, thanks." I put the book down reluctantly. I wanted to start it right then. **

"Of course you did." Steve muttered.

**"Peroxide? A deck of cards..." Suddenly I realized something. "Johnny, you ain't thinking of..."  
Johnny sat down and pulled out his knife. "We're gonna cut our hair, and you're gonna bleach yours." He looked at the ground carefully. "They'll have our descriptions in the paper. We can't fit 'em."  
**

Soda laughed. "It was ill wasted!"

Pony gingerly touched his now reddish brown hair. "You don't say."

**"Oh, no!" My hand flew to my hair. "No, Johnny, not my hair!"  
**

"_Oh no! No, Johnny, not my hair!" _Steve mimicked Ponyboy but in a higher pitch. "Kid, you sound like Evie when her mother says she needs a haircut."

"You would too if you had to hack off all your hair and look like a bloody pansy." Ponyboy grumbled while crossing his arms.

**It was my pride. **

"Girl!" Steve coughed and Soda whacked him in the head.

**It was long and silky, just like Soda's, only a little redder. Our hair was tuff- we didn't have to use much grease on it. **

Soda ran his hand through his own hair and grinned at his kid brother. "You sure put a lot in everything, Pone."

"But still our hair is tuff." Pony said and Soda nodded his head in agreement. Then he cocked his eyebrow at Darry.

"You jealous, Muscles?" He asked playfully.

Darry rolled his eyes at Soda's antic. "Very."

**Our hair labeled us greasers, too- it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of. Maybe we couldn't have Corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have hair.  
**

Everybody became silent.

"Well, if you look at like that, then I guess getting a haircut would be something to cry about." Steve said slowly.

But Two-Bit had a different approach. "Cool, I have a trademark!"

Ponyboy shook his head. "Your trademark is your switchblade and rusty sideburns."

Two-Bit looked around the room, a triumphant look on his face. "I'm special." He said in a booming voice.

Everybody rolled their eyes.

**"We'd have to anyway if we got caught. You know the first thing the judge does is make you get a haircut"  
"I don't see why," I said sourly. "Dally could just as eas ily mug somebody with short hair."  
**

Darry snorted. "That's not why they make you cut your hair, Pone. They make you cut because you're supposed to look smart in court, not like a hood."

"So? We're still greasers on the inside." Pony said sourly.

Darry shrugged and smiled at him. "Tell 'em that, not me, little buddy."

**"I don't know either- it's just a way of trying to break us. They can't really do anything to guys like Curly Shepard or Tim; they've had about everything done to them. And they can't take anything away from them because they don't have anything in the first place. So they cut their hair."  
**

"I like Johnny's explanation better." Two-Bit said.

Darry sighed tiredly. "Whatever floats your boat, Two-Bit." He said wearily.

**I looked at Johnny imploringly.**

Steve shook his head. "Kid, I'm almost three years older than you and I don't know what that means."

Ponyboy sighed. "It means to beg urgently or piteously, as for aid or mercy."

Two-Bit looked incredulously at the youngest member of the gang. "Ponyboy, what did you do? Swallow a dictionary?"

**Johnny sighed. "I'm gonna cut mine too, and wash the grease out, but I can't bleach it. I'm too dark-skinned to look okay blond. Oh, come on, Ponyboy," he pleaded. "It'll grow back."  
"Okay," I said, wide-eyed. "Get it over with."  
**

Steve rolled his eyes. "You make it seem like the world's gonna end."

"It did." Ponyboy mumbled.

**Johnny flipped out the razor-edge of his switch, took hold of my hair, and started sawing on it.**

Soda winced and touched his own hair. "That's gotta hurt."

"It sure did." Ponyboy grinned at him.

**I shuddered. "Not too short," I begged. "Johnny, please..."  
Finally it was over with. My hair looked funny, scattered over the floor in tufts. "It's lighter than I thought it was," I said, examining it.**

Two-Bit snorted. "You had the same hair for 14 years and you didn't even know its exact color?"

"Hey! It looked different than when I looked in the mirror." Ponyboy protested.

Two-Bit just rolled his eyes.

**"Can I see what I look like now?"  
"No," Johnny said slowly, staring at me.**

"Probably can't believe how ugly you looked." Two-Bit muttered.

Ponyboy reached over and smacked him in the head.

**"We gotta bleach it first."  
After I'd sat in the sun for fifteen minutes to dry the bleach, Johnny let me look in the old cracked mirror we'd found in a closet.**

"Why was there a mirror in a church closet?" Steve asked curiously.

Ponyboy shrugged. "No clue."

Two-Bit made a choking noise and pretended to faint. "Ponyboy doesn't know something! The world has officially ended!"

Ponyboy rolled his eyes while Soda whacked Two-Bit in the head with Pony's theme.

**I did a double take. My hair was even lighter than Sodapop's. I'd never combed it to the side like that. It just didn't look like me.**

"It sure didn't" Darry agreed. "You would've thought you'd look okay with blonde hair and green eyes, but it just wasn't you, Pony."

**It made me look younger, and scareder, too. Boy howdy, I thought, this really makes me look tuff. I look like a blasted pansy. I was miserable.  
**

"I swear you and Evie should get together and talk about hair. I feel like you guys will have so much in common." Steve gushed.

Ponyboy picked up a pillow and tossed it at him.

"Shut ya trap, Randle." He growled.

**Johnny handed me the knife. He looked scared, too. "Cut the front and thin out the rest. I'll comb it back after I wash it."  
"Johnny," I said tiredly, "you can't wash your hair in that freezing water in this weather. You'll get a cold."  
**

"You're one to talk! You forgot to wear a jacket in that freezing weather." Darry grumbled.

"Darry, I'm fine!" Ponyboy sighed.

**He only shrugged. "Go ahead and cut it."  
I did the best I could.**

Soda laughed. "That still probably wasn't that good."

Ponyboy face flushed. "Hey, I never said I wanted to be a barber."

**He went ahead and washed it anyway, using the bar of soap he'd bought. I was glad I had had to run away with him instead of with Two-Bit or Steve or Dally.**

"Hey!" Two-Bit and Steve protested.

"What about us?" Darry and Soda demanded.

Ponyboy raised his hands in surrender. "Continue reading, guys."

**That would be one thing they'd never think of soap.**

"Yes I would've!" Two-Bit objected.

Ponyboy raised his eyebrows at him.

"Okay, maybe I'd go for the beer." Two-Bit sheepishly admitted.

"I thought so." Ponyboy said smugly.

**I gave him Dally's jacket to wrap up in, and he sat shivering in the sunlight on the back steps, leaning against the door, combing his hair back. It was the first time I could see that he had eyebrows. **

Steve laughed. "You didn't think he had eyebrows before?"

Ponyboy let out an exasperated sigh. "Amateurs." He mumbled.

**He didn't look like Johnny. His forehead was whiter where his bangs had been; it would have been funny if we hadn't been so scared.**

Now that the gang was no longer in a scary situation, they better appreciated imagining Johnny's forehead being whiter than the rest of his face because of his long, shaggy bangs. They laughed until they thought their ribs cracked.

"Good 'ole Johnny." Soda said wistfully.

**He was still shivering with cold. "I guess," He said weakly, "I guess we're disguised."  
**

Steve rolled his eyes. "Dying your hair and cutting it does mean you're disguised."

**I leaned back next to him sullenly. "I guess so."  
"Oh, shoot," Johnny said with fake cheerfulness, "it's just hair."  
"Shoot nothing," I snapped. "It took me a long time to get that hair just the way I wanted it. **

"I promise you, the next time Evie and I-" Steve put Ponyboy had already got up and tackled the greaser to the floor.

It took both Soda and Darry to rip the two boys off of each other.

**And besides, this just ain't us. It's like being in a Halloween costume we can't get out of."  
**

Two-Bit blinked. "You got a real special way with words, Pony."

"Thanks." Ponyboy grumbled, still sour from Steve's comment.

**"Well, we got to get used to it," Johnny said with finality. "We're in big trouble and it's our looks or us."  
I started eating a candy bar. **

"You should not be eating a candy bar for breakfast!" Darry said to Ponyboy.

Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Darry. Why do we eat chocolate cake for breakfast then?"

"Hmm," Darry considered. "I guess we really shouldn't."

"Ponyboy!" Soda groaned. "Don't egg him on!"

**"I'm still tired," I said. To my surprise, the ground blurred and I felt tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them off hurriedly. Johnny looked as miserable as I felt.  
"I'm sorry I cut your hair off, Ponyboy."  
"Oh, it ain't that;" I said between bites of chocolate.**

"You sure?" Steve joked but Soda whacked him in the head.

**"I mean, not all of it. I'm just a little spooky. I really don't know what's the matter. I'm just mixed up."  
"I know," Johnny said through chattering teeth as we went inside. "Things have been happening so fast..." I put my arm across his shoulders to warm him up.  
**

"Oh Pony." Soda whimpered. "You really shouldn't have gone through that."

Ponyboy smiled as he reached over and hugged his older brother. Darry immediately felt the guilt rising up in him all over again. He can't believe that he put his kid brother through all this misery and he still forgiven him. He didn't deserve to be Pony's older brother, he thought miserably.

**"Two-Bit shoulda been in that little one-horse store. Man, we're in the middle of nowhere; the nearest house is two miles away. Things were layin' out wide open, just waitin' for somebody slick like Two-Bit to come and pick 'em up.**

"Oh kid, thanks!" Two-Bit cried and everybody rolled their eyes. Only Two-Bit would find that as a compliment.

**He coulda walked out with half the store." **

"Johnny, I promise you that I will find this store and rob it just for you." Two-Bit promised.

"Only you Two-Bit." Steve rolled his eyes.

**He leaned back beside me, and I could feel him trembling. "Good ol' Two-Bit," he said in a quavering voice. He must have been as homesick as I was.  
**

Two-Bit sniffled. "I'm honored that you guys feel homesick by the mere thought of me."

Ponyboy picked up a pillow and chucked it at him. "Can it, Mathews."

**"Remember how he was wisecrackin' last night?" I said. "Last night... just last night we were walkin' Cherry and Marcia over to Two-Bit's. Just last night we were layin' in the lot, lookin' up at the stars and dreaming..."  
"Stop it!" Johnny gasped from between clenched teeth. "Shut up about last night!**

"Oh damn." Steve said wide eyed.

"This is _not _the Johnny we knew." Soda agreed.

**I killed a kid last night. He couldn't of been over seventeen or eighteen, and I killed him. How'd you like to live with that?" **

"Johnny, that asshole deserved it!" Two-Bit shouted at Pony's theme.

**He was crying. I held him like Soda had held him the day we found him lying in the lot.  
"I didn't mean to," he finally blurted out, "but they were drownin' you, and I was so scared..." He was quiet for a minute. "There sure is a lot of blood in people."  
**

Everybody shuddered. Poor Johnny, he didn't need to live with this guilt, they thought dejectedly.

**He got up suddenly and began pacing back and forth, slapping his pockets.  
"Whatta we gonna do?" I was crying by then. It was getting dark and I was cold and lonesome. **

"Ponyboy, you always have and Darry and me. Don't you ever dare feel lonesome." Soda said furiously.

Ponyboy smiled at him sadly. "I know, Pepsi-Cola. I know."

**I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, but the tears came anyway.  
"This is my fault," Johnny said in a miserable voice. He had stopped crying when I started. "For bringin' a little thirteen-year-old kid along. You ought to go home. You can't get into any trouble. You didn't kill him."  
**

"Yes, send him home!" Darry shouted. "Send him back to me!"

**"No!" I screamed at him. "I'm fourteen! I've been fourteen for a month! And I'm in it as much as you are.**

Two-Bit snorted. "Big difference, Pony. Real big."

**I'll stop crying in a minute... I can't help it."  
He slumped down beside me. "I didn't mean it like that, Ponyboy. Don't cry, Pony, we'll be okay. Don't cry..." I leaned against him and bawled until I went to sleep.  
**

Soda and Darry winced. They hated knowing that their kid brother had cried himself to sleep and they weren't there for him. They scooted closer to him and held him tight, vowing that they were never going to let him slip from their fingers ever again.

**I woke up late that night. Johnny was resting against the wall and I was asleep on his shoulder. "Johnny?" I yawned. "You awake?" I was warm and sleepy.  
"Yeah," he said quietly.  
"We ain't gonna cry no more, are we?"  
"Nope. We're all cried out now. We're gettin' used to the idea. We're gonna be okay now."  
**

"You should not get used to the idea!" Darry said sourly.

"Don't worry, Dare. I didn't get used to it." Pony reassured him.

**"That's what I thought," I said drowsily. Then for the first time since Dally and I had sat down behind those girls at the Nightly Double, I relaxed. We could take whatever was coming now.**

"How about a break guys?" Darry suggested as he looked at the dejected gang.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Two-Bit said and he walked into the kitchen.

**A/N: All right, there you go. I updated my other story, btw, "Nothing is What it Seems". The 3rd chapter is up! **

**You guys know the drill. Type up something nice and click Post Review! I'll update faster if you do! ;) **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I am soo sorry it took so long to update! I was busy on my other story and with school and work and now with track. Thank you guys for the reviews! Keep them up! This chapter may not be good because I kinda rushed so please forgive me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. But if I did, I would add more depth to Darry. He really is a complicated character and has more emotions than S.E. Hinton gave. **

As the gang munched on some snacks in the Curtis's living room, they tried to push back all emotions they were feeling. Mostly loss, sadness and helplessness as they thought about their long lost buddy, Johnny Cade. Soda and Darry was also feeling about this about Ponyboy. Their poor kid brother had been through so many things that he shouldn't. And it was all their fault for not protecting him in the first place, they thought miserably.

Steve picked up Pony's theme and handed to Soda. "Might as well finish the chapter." He shrugged.

Soda gulped. He didn't want to read about how miserable Ponyboy and Soda couldn't do anything about it. "All right." He said.

He took a seat right next to Pony and Darry and began to read.

**THE NEXT FOUR or five days were the longest days I've ever spent in my life.**

Darry snorted. "You're kidding me, right? Those were the worst days of my life. And the slowest on top of that."

"I think it was for everybody, Dar." Ponyboy said softly.

Darry sighed softly. "You're right, little buddy."

"Shocker." Two-Bit muttered.

**We killed time by reading Gone with the Wind and playing poker. Johnny sure did like that book, although he didn't know anything about the Civil War and even less about plantations, and I had to explain a lot of it to him.**

Two-Bit made a face. "Who cares about those things?"

"People with a brain." Ponyboy countered.

Two-Bit narrowed his eyes at him. "Some serious shit is about to go down if you don't shut your trap, Curtis."

"Some serious shit will go down if you touch our kid brother." Soda said while crossing his arms.

**It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could- I was supposed to be the deep one.**

"You are the deep one." Steve mumbled. "Which also means that you make no sense most of the time."

Ponyboy just rolled his eyes.

**Johnny had failed a year in school and never made good grades- he couldn't grasp anything that was shoved at him too fast, and I guess his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. **

"Don't worry, Johnnycake; they think the same for me." Two-Bit said to Pony's theme.

"Yeah, but this time they were right." Steve joked.

**But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them. He was especially stuck on the Southern gentlemen- impressed with their manners and charm.**

"Well, compare anybody with us and you'll be impressed by their manner, considering we don't have any!" Steve laughed.

Darry rolled his eyes. "That's supposed to open your eyes a little."

**"I bet they were cool ol' guys," he said, his eyes glowing, after I had read the part about them riding into sure death because they were gallant. "They remind me of Dally."**

Two-Bit spitted out the water that he was drinking. "Dallas?! Gallant?! Johnnycake definitely lost it!"

"I thought the same too." Ponyboy agreed.

**"Dally?" I said, startled. "Shoot, he ain't got any more manners than I do. And you saw how he treated those girls the other night. Soda's more like them Southern boys."**

"Of course Soda's like them Southern boys. He might as well be an angel from heaven the way Pony's going on about him." Two-Bit mumbled.

Soda smacked his arm and Ponyboy threw a pillow at him.

"Oh come on!" Two-Bit said as he swatted the pillow thrown at him by Ponyboy. "Not the pillows again!"

**"Yeah... in the manners bit, and the charm, too, I guess," Johnny said slowly,**

Soda cocked his eyebrows. "What do ya mean, 'I guess'? He knows!" He exclaimed.

Darry rolled his eyes. "Cocky much?"

**"but one night I saw Dally gettin' picked up by the fuzz, and he kept real cool and calm the whole time. They was gettin' him for breakin' out the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that.**

Two-Bit sighed happily. "Good 'ol times."

**And Dally knew it. But he just took the sentence without battin' an eye or even denyin' it. That's gallant."**

Two-Bit looked surprised. "I thought the fuzz was too stupid figure out who did it. Gosh, I never knew Dally took the sentence."

**That was the first time I realized the extent of Johnny's hero-worship for Dally Winston. Of all of us, Dally was the one I liked least. **

Steve snorted. "If Dally heard all of this Pony, you'd get ass whipped. You better compliment him soon or he's gonna crawl out of his grave and beat your head in."

**He didn't have Soda's understanding or dash,**

Soda looked everybody with his hand on his hip. "None you guys can have my understanding or dash. You'd die trying."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "I think one Soda is enough."

**or Two-Bit's humor,**

Two-Bit snorted. "I would like to see ya'll try to be funny as me."

**or even Darry's superman qualities.**

Darry was pleasantly surprised. He really had thought this whole would be a while lot of bashing on him. Not that he didn't deserve it, he thought quickly. He looked over at Ponyboy and saw that his kid brother was giving him a pointed look, as if he just read Darry's thought. Darry smiled at him sheepishly and Pony just smiled and shook his head.

**But I realized that these three appealed to me because they were like the heroes in the novels I read.**

Two-Bit pretended to wipe a tear. "I have this strange feeling in my chest… It's almost like affection!"

Ponyboy groaned. "Seriously, Two-Bit? Seriously?"

Two-Bit grinned at him but Steve was indignant.

"Hey, what about me?" He asked.

Ponyboy blushed. "Umm, I wasn't a big fan of you then."

"Oh." Steve said awkwardly and Soda hurried to continue the story to avoid the awkward situation.

**Dally was real. I liked my books and clouds and sunsets. Dally was so real he scared me.**

"Aww, Pony I hate saying this but you gotta open your eyes a little before you seriously get hurt!" Soda said sadly.

Ponyboy grinned sheepishly. "I know, I know. I'll try to get in touch with reality more often."

Soda reached over and hugged him. "It's okay. I just don't like to see you hurt."

**Johnny and I never went to the front of the church. You could see the front from the road, and sometimes farm kids rode their horses by on their way to the store.**

Two-Bit snorted. "Horses? Really?"

**So we stayed in the very back, usually sitting on the steps and looking across the valley. We could see for miles; see the ribbon of highway and the small dots that were houses and cars. **

"I bet one of those small dots was me." Two-Bit said smugly.

"Sure thing, Two-Bit." Ponyboy laughed.

**We couldn't watch the sunset,**

"You must have been pissed." Steve said.

"Totally, Steve." Ponyboy said sarcastically. "You could practically see my steaming. No wonder the church bursted into flames."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Stop being a smartass." He snapped.

**since the back faced east, but I loved to look at the colors of the fields and the soft shadings of the horizon.**

"Only you, Pony. Only you." Darry said while shaking his head.

**One morning I woke up earlier than usual. Johnny and I slept huddled together for warmth- Dally had been right when he said it would get cold where we were going. **

"You should've brought a jacket." Darry said with disappointment.

Ponyboy gave him an exasperated look. "I can't believe you're still on this."

**Being careful not to wake Johnny up, I went to sit on the steps and smoke a cigarette. **

"And you should not be smoking cigarettes. Honestly Pony, you are way too addicted." Darry said while giving Pony a pointed look.

Ponyboy sighed. "I get it Darry, I really do."

**The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold.**

Steve whistled. "Damn you are so descriptive, Pony." He said, his voice filled with awe.

**There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful.**

"Gosh but that does sound amazing." Soda said with a dreamy expression.

Pony sighed. "It sure was." He said wistfully.

**"Golly"- Johnny's voice beside me made me jump- "that sure was pretty."**

**"Yeah." I sighed, wishing I had some paint to do a picture with while the sight was still fresh in my mind.**

Soda looked surprised. "You like to paint, Pone?"

"Yeah, I guess." Pony said. "Why?"

Soda and Darry glanced at each other and they immediately knew what to buy for Pony's fast approaching birthday.

**"The mist was what was pretty," Johnny said. "All gold and silver."**

**"Uhmmmm," I said, trying to blow a smoke ring.**

Two-Bit shook his head. "It's a lost cause; don't even try to blow a smoke ring."

"I did though." Pony said smugly.

Two-Bit looked surprised. "I don't believe you."

"Soda, continue reading." Ponyboy asked with a smug expression on his face.

**"Too bad it couldn't stay like that all the time."**

**"Nothing gold can stay." I was remembering a poem I'd read once.**

Darry looked exasperated. "You can't remember to come home on time but you can remember a poem?"

Ponyboy grinned self-consciously. "Remembering poems are much easier."

Everybody in the room gave him a 'you're kidding' look.

**"What?"**

**"Nature's first green is gold,**

**Her hardest hue to hold.**

**Her early leafs a flower;**

**But only so an hour.**

**Then leaf subsides to leaf.**

**So Eden sank to grief,**

**So dawn goes down to day.**

**Nothing gold can stay."**

"Jeez, kid." Steve looked surprised. "What else do you remember?"

Ponyboy grinned mischievously. "Oh, so much more Randle."

**Johnny was staring at me. "Where'd you learn that? That was what I meant"**

**"Robert Frost wrote it. He meant more to it than I'm gettin' though." I was trying to find the meaning the poet had in mind, but it eluded me.**

"Somebody write this down! Ponyboy actually doesn't know the meaning of something!" Two-Bit cried out.

"Aww, hush it, Two-Bit!" Ponyboy said as the tips of ears glowed red.

**"I always remembered it because I never quite got what he meant by it"**

Darry snorted. "What a great reason to remember something."

**"You know," Johnny said slowly, "I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before."**

Soda looked thoughtful. "That's true. I've always been preoccupied to really notice them."

"Yeah, that's everybody's excuse." Ponyboy said wearily.

**He thought for a minute. "Your family sure is funny."**

"What's so funny about it?" Soda and Darry asked stiffly.

**"And what happens to be so funny about it?" I asked stiffly.**

**Johnny looked at me quickly. "I didn't mean nothing. I meant, well, Soda kinda looks like your mother did, but he acts just exactly like your father. And Darry is the spittin' image of your father, but he ain't wild and laughing all the time like he was. He acts like your mother. And you don't act like either one."**

Soda smiled, now understanding what Johnny meant. "That's because Pony's the perfect combination of both!" He said as he reached over playfully tackled him while Darry smiled at his brother's antics.

**"I know," I said. "Well," I said, thinking this over, "you ain't like any of the gang. I mean, I couldn't tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry about the sunrise and clouds and stuff.**

Darry was momentarily upset that Ponyboy couldn't tell Darry things the way he told Johnny things. But then he remembered that he had vowed that he would change his relationship Pony, right after they finish reading his theme of course.

**I couldn't even remember that poem around them.**

"Is it something about our presence that completely blows your mind?" Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow.

Ponyboy looked thoughtful. "No, it's your idiocy catching up to me."

"That's it!" Two-Bit said and he leaped to tackle Ponyboy to the floor.

"Oh no you don't. Not my kid brother." Soda said and he dropped Pony's theme and joined the mini fight Two-Bit and Pony created.

Darry and Steve gave each other exasperated looks and leaped in to separate the greasers.

**I mean, they just don't dig. Just you and Sodapop. And maybe Cherry Valance."**

"Soda's got competition!" Steve shouted and Soda glared at him.

"Never. Nobody knows my kid brother better than me." Soda said stubbornly.

**Johnny shrugged. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I guess we're different."**

**"Shoot," I said, blowing a perfect smoke ring, **

Ponyboy gave Two-Bit a smug look But Two-Bit shook his head.

"I don't believe it until I see it." He said defiantly.

**"maybe they are."**

**By the fifth day I was so tired of baloney I nearly got sick every time I looked at it. **

Ponyboy made a face. "I'm still sick of it." He said with a shudder.

Note to self, Darry thought, never ever buy baloney.

**We had eaten all our candy bars in the first two days.**

Darry made a face. "Pony, that's disgusting. Do you know how much sugar you consumed?"

"I really wasn't paying attention to that, Dar." Pony replied.

**I was dying for a Pepsi. I'm what you might call a Pepsi addict.**

Darry sighed. "Cigarettes, Pepsi, what else are you addicted to?"

"Books, sunsets, writing and track." Ponyboy piped up.

Two-Bit, Soda and Steve laughed out loud and Soda gave Pony a thump on the back.

"He got you good this time, Superman." Two-Bit said in between peals of laughter.

"Can it, Two-Bit." Darry grumbled.

**I drink them like a fiend, and going for five days without one was about to kill me. **

Steve rolled his eyes. "You are the most dramatic greaser ever."

**Johnny promised to get some if we ran out of supplies and had to get some more, but that didn't help me right then. **

Two-Bit smirked. "This I would pay to see."

**I was smoking a lot more there than I usually did**

Everybody in the room made a face.

"That's just plain disgusting." Steve said.

Ponyboy shrugged. "I was bored."

"That's not a reason to go smoking like there's no tomorrow." Darry said sternly.

**- I guess because it was something to do- although Johnny warned me that I would get sick smoking so much.**

"At least you ran away with Johnny." Darry muttered. "I can't even begin to imagine if you ran away with Two-Bit."

"Hey!" Two-Bit protested.

**We were care ful with our cigarettes- if that old church ever caught fire there'd be no stopping it.**

"Oh the irony!" Two-Bit cried.

**On the fifth day I had read up to Sherman's siege of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind, owed Johnny a hundred and fifty bucks from poker games,**

Steve whistled. "Ponyboy, you suck at poker."

Ponyboy pouted. "I just need to work on my poker face."

"Or you could keep an ace in your shoe." Soda whispered to him.

"Curtis, I heard that." Steve said while raising his eyebrows.

"Heard what?" Soda asked and winked at Ponyboy.

**smoked two packs of Camels, and as Johnny had predicted, got sick. **

Darry made a face. "Who couldn't predict that? He said with disgust.

**I hadn't eaten anything all day; and smoking on an empty stomach doesn't make you feel real great.**

Soda winced. "Really Pony? You know that it don't make you feel good but you still do it? That's just being stupid, Pony."

Ponyboy sighed. "I know, Soda. I know."

**I curled up in a corner to sleep off the smoke. I was just about asleep when I heard, as if from a great distance, a low long whistle that went off in a sudden high note.**

Two-Bit looked confused. "Johnny?" He guessed.

Ponyboy shook his head and Soda finally understood.

"It's Dally! That means you're coming home soon!" He said happily.

**I was too sleepy to pay any attention, although Johnny didn't have any reason to be whistling like that. He was sitting on the back steps trying to read Gone with the Wind. I had almost decided that I had dreamed the outside world and there was nothing real but baloney sandwiches and the Civil War and the old church and the mist in the valley.**

"Pony, you've got the wildest imagination I've ever seen." Steve shook his head.

**It seemed to me that I had always lived in the church, or maybe lived during the Civil War and had somehow got transplanted.**

"If this daydream of your gets crazier, I swear, I'll send you to an asylum." Two-Bit said.

"You must be really bored." Soda said with a somewhat horrified expression on his face.

**That shows you what a wild imagination I have.**

"Oh, we knew that you had a wild imagination but we didn't know the extent of it." Darry said.

**A toe nudged me in the ribs.**

"What a nice way to wake up." Soda said sarcastically.

**"Glory," said a rough but familiar voice, "he looks different with his hair like that."**

**I rolled over and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning. Suddenly I blinked.**

**"Hey, Dally!"**

"Hey, would ya look at that; Pony's glad to see Dally!" Two-Bit said happily.

"You would too if you were me." Pony shot back.

**"Hey, Ponyboy!" He grinned down at me. "Or should I say Sleeping Beauty?"**

**I never thought I'd live to see the day when I would be so glad to see Dally Winston, but right then he meant one thing: contact with the outside world.**

"Now you believe that there's a real world." Steve said sarcastically.

**And it suddenly became real and vital.**

**"How's Sodapop? Are the fuzz after us? Is Darry all right? Do the boys know where we are? What..."**

"Hah! I'm the first thing he asked about!" Soda said with a smug expression.

Darry rolled his eyes but he was secretly happy that Pony had asked about him. He had thought that Pony didn't even give a hang about him that whole week.

**"Hold on, kid," Dally broke in. "I can't answer every thing at once. You two want to go get something to eat first? I skipped breakfast and I'm about starved."**

**"You're starved?" Johnny was so indignant he nearly squeaked. I remembered the baloney.**

"Huh, Dally had nothing on them." Two-Bit smirked.

**"Is it safe to go out?" I asked eagerly.**

**"Yep." Dally searched his shirt pocket for a cigarette, and finding none, said, "Gotta cancer stick, Johnnycake?"**

**Johnny tossed him a whole package.**

"How much cigarettes did you guys have?" Steve asked with an incredulous expression.

"A whole lot." Ponyboy answered.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I figured that already myself, funnily enough."

**"The fuzz won't be lookin' for you around here," Dally said, lighting up. "They think you've lit out for Texas.**

"I thought so too." Two-Bit grumbled.

**I've got Buck's T-bird parked down the road a little way. Goshamighty, boys, ain't you been eatin' anything?"**

**Johnny looked startled. "Yeah. Whatever gave you the idea we ain't?"**

"All the weight you guys lost." Darry mumbled.

**Dally shook his head. "You're both pale and you've lost weight. After this, get out in the sun more. You look like you've been through the mill."**

"Oh no," Soda said while shaking his head. "There will be no 'after this'. Ponyboy's coming straight home.

**I started to say "Look who's talking" but decided it would be safer not to. **

Two-Bit snorted. "Smart choice kid."

**Dally needed a shave- a stubble of colorless beard covered his jaw- and he looked like he was the one who'd been sleeping in his clothes for a week instead of us;**

"And that's how we knew that Dally was up to something." Steve said proudly.

Soda rolled his eyes. "We figured that out right away. A little slow, aren't you Randle?"

**I knew he hadn't seen a barber in months. But it was safer not to get mouthy with Dally Winston.**

Steve rolled his eyes. "He does use his head after all."

Ponyboy picked up the T.V. remote and chucked it at Steve.

**"Hey, Ponyboy"- he fumbled with a piece of paper in his back pocket- "I gotta letter for you."**

"Wait, what letter?" Darry asked.

"My letter!" Soda said happily. "I knew Dally knew where they were so I made him give Pony a letter."

Darry looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked with a hurt expression.

"I did," Soda reminded him. "But you kept on saying that Dally didn't know shit."

"Oh." Darry said awkwardly.

**"A letter? Who from?"**

Soda gave Pony a 'you're kidding me' look. Ponyboy blushed and shrugged helplessly.

**"The President, of course, stupid. It's from Soda."**

Two-Bit looked confused. "Since when was Soda the President?"

Steve gave him an incredulous look and smacked him upside the head.

"You really deserved that." Steve added.

**"Sodapop?" I said, bewildered. "But how did he know...?"**

**"He came over to Buck's a couple of days ago for something and found that sweat shirt. I told him I didn't know where you were, but he didn't believe me.**

Soda snorted. "I ain't that stupid."

"You sure about that? 'Cause your report card would like to say otherwise..." Two-Bit started but Soda's glare stopped him.

"You'd shut up if you know what's best for you." Soda warned.

**He gave me this letter and half his pay check to give you.**

"Hey, what ever happened to that money?" Soda asked.

Ponyboy shrugged. "I never got it."

"What?!" Soda exclaimed. "Oh, Dallas is soo dead!"

"I hate to break it to you, buddy but Dallas is already dead." Steve said as he patted Soda's back.

**Kid, you ought to see Darry. He's takin' this mighty hard..."**

"No, I was throwing a party." Darry said while rolling his eyes.

**I wasn't listening.**

"Of course you weren't." Darry mumbled.

"If you weren't listening than how did you know what Dally was saying?" Two-Bit questioned.

"I meant I wasn't really paying any attention to him." Pony replied.

**I leaned back against the side of the church and read:**

**Ponyboy,**

**Well I guess you got into some trouble, huh? **

"No, he ran out to go look for some fun." Two-Bit said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

**Darry and me nearly went nuts when you ran out like that. **

"That is an understatement." Darry said.

"Jeez, stop hating my letter; I was under a time limit." Soda replied.

**Darry is awful sorry he hit you.**

"Another understatement." Darry mumbled.

Ponyboy gave him a tight smile. "I know, Dar, I know."

**You know he didn't mean it. And then you and Johnny turned up mising and what with that dead kid in the park and Dally getting hauled into the station, well it scared us something awful.**

Two-Bit shuddered. "Worst. Week. Of. My. Life."

Everybody was quick to agree with him.

**The police came by to question us and we told them as much as we could. I can't believe little old Johnny could kill somebody. **

"I don't think anybody could." Steve said softly.

**I know Dally knows where you are, but you know him. He keeps his trap shut and won't tell me nothing. Darry hasn't got the slightest notion where you're at and it is nearly killing him. I wish you'd come back and turn your selfves in but I guess you can't since Johnny might get hurt.**

"Hold on a second. You didn't demand him to come home?! You were just gonna let him stay there?! Soda, what's wrong with you!" Darry shouted.

"Hey! In my defense, I wasn't only thinking about Pony; I was also thinking about Johnny! They were gonna hurt him if he came home. And of course I wanted Pony home! I wanted home more than anything else!" Soda shouted right back.

"Aww, come on guys! This was almost a year ago! The past is the past!" Ponyboy pleaded to his brothers.

"Yeah, show some famous Curtis brother love!" Two-Bit added but the three brothers glared at him.

"Okay, I guess not." Two-Bit muttered as he sat back down.

**You sure are famous. You got a paragraph in the newspaper even. Take care and say hi to Johnny for us.**

Darry looked at Soda but Soda put his hand up before Darry could say anything.

"No Darry, I ain't encouraging him. It's called makin' a conversation. You should try it some time." Soda grumbled.

"Soda," Ponyboy said hurriedly before Darry could open his mouth. "Ya know I still have that letter? It's in our room."

Soda's face softened. "Really?" He asked.

"Really." Ponyboy smiled.

**Sodapop Curtis**

**He could improve his spelling, I thought after reading it through three or four times. **

"Really Ponyboy? I give you a letter with all my feelings down and you're only concerned about the spelling." Soda rolled his eyes as he affectionately tickled his kid brother.

**"How come you got hauled in?" I asked Dally.**

**"Shoot, kid"- he grinned wolfishly- "them boys at the station know me by now. I get hauled in for everything that happens in our turf.**

Two-Bit snorted. "I wonder why."

**While I was there I kinda let it slip that y'all were headin' for Texas. So that's where they're lookin'."**

"I thought he was serious!" Two-Bit shouted. "That's why I wanted to go down and search for them!"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Even if he was telling the truth, how would you find them? Texas is a big state, Two-Bit."

"I'd have found them." Two-Bit said defiantly.

**He took a drag on his cigarette and cussed it goodnaturedly for not being a Kool. Johnny listened in admiration. "You sure can cuss good, Dally."**

"I thought I told Dally not to cuss in front of Pony!" Darry moaned.

Steve snorted. "Darry, this Dally we're talking about. He'll cuss all he wants."

**"Sure can," Dally agreed wholeheartedly, proud of his vocabulary.**

"Ahh, good 'ole Dallas." Two-Bit said wistfully.

**"But don't you kids get to pickin' up my bad habits."**

**He gave me a hard rub on the head. "Kid, I swear it don't look like you with your hair all cut off. It used to look tuff. You and Soda had the coolest lookin' hair in town."**

"Why thank you Dally." Soda said, pretending to look touched.

**"I know," I said sourly. "I look lousy, but don't rub it in."**

"Evie!" Steve coughed and looked innocent when Ponyboy glared at him.

**"Do y'all want somethin' to eat or not?"**

**Johnny and I leaped up. "You'd better believe it"**

**"Gee," Johnny said wistfully, "it sure will be good to get into a car again."**

**"Well," Dally drawled, "I'll give you a ride for your money."**

"Oh no," Two-Bit groaned. "He really will give one heck of ride."

"Tell me about it." Ponyboy grumbled, his stomach twisting again at the thought of that car ride."

**Dally always did like to drive fast, as if he didn't care whether he got where he was going or not, and we came down the red dirt road off Jay Mountain doing eighty-five.**

Even Darry looked a little green. "That's not driving fast; that's just being plain crazy."

**I like fast driving and Johnny was crazy about drag races, but we both got a little green around the gills when Dally took a corner on two wheels with the brakes screaming.**

Everybody in the room blanched. "That's just…" Soda said while searching for the right word.

"Stupid, crazy, insane?" Steve finished for him.

"Yeah, that." Soda said awkwardly.

**Maybe it was because we hadn't been in a car for so long.**

"Yeah Ponyboy, maybe it's just that." Two-Bit said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

**We stopped at a Dairy Queen and the first thing I got was a Pepsi.**

"Oh boy, oh boy. I would've loved to see Pony's face when he got himself a Pepsi!" Two-Bit grinned.

**Johnny and I gorged on barbecue sandwiches and banana splits.**

**"Glory," Dallas said, amazed, watching us gulp the stuff down. "You don't need to make like every mouthful's your last. I got plenty of money. **

"I bet some of it was half of my paycheck that I gave to Ponyboy." Soda grumbled.

**Take it easy, I don't want you gettin' sick on me. And I thought I was hungry!"**

**Johnny merely ate faster. I didn't slow down until I got a headache.**

Darry and Soda made a face. "That's just disgustin', Pony." They both said.

Ponyboy shrugged, happier that his brothers were arguing. "I was starving."

"You don't say." Two-Bit muttered.

**"I didn't tell y'all something," Dally said, finishing his third hamburger.**

"I swear, you three boys eat more than me, Steve, Soda and Darry combined." Two-Bit said while making a face.

"We were hungry." Ponyboy repeated.

**"The Socs and us are having all-out war fare all over the city. That kid you killed had plenty of friends and all over town it's Soc against grease. We can't walk alone at all. I started carryin' a heater..."**

Everybody in the room winced. That heater had caused more problems than they originally thought.

**"Dally!" I said, frightened. "You kill people with heaters!"**

"Really Pony? I never would've guessed." Two-Bit said while trying to lighten the tension in the room.

It worked. Ponyboy chucked a pillow at him and Soda whacked him in the head.

**"Ya kill 'em with switchblades, too, don't ya, kid?" Dally said in a hard voice. Johnny gulped.**

"That was just low." Steve said angrily. "Johnny didn't mean to kill that soc. It was purely out of self-defense."

"Dally has his moments." Soda said while trying to comfort his buddy.

**"Don't worry," Dally went on, "it ain't loaded. I ain't aimin' to get picked up for murder. But it sure does help a bluff. **

Everybody winced again as those words rang in their ear. It sure did help but not in the way they had imagined.

**Tim Shepard's gang and our outfit are havin' it out with the Socs tomorrow night at the vacant lot. We got hold of the president of one of their social clubs and had a war council. Yeah"- Dally sighed, and I knew he was remembering New York- "just like the good old days. **

"Only Dally could get enjoyment from all of this." Darry said while shaking his head.

"Man, I sure miss Dallas." Steve said sadly while Soda nodded his head and Ponyboy buried his head in a pillow.

**If they win, things go on as usual. If we do, they stay outa our territory but good.**

"They really didn't stick with it." Steve said as he made a face.

"Tell me about it. But at least the jumping had decreased." Soda added.

**Two-Bit got jumped a few days ago. Darry and me came along in time, but he wasn't havin' too much trouble. Two-Bit's a good fighter.**

"Aww, thanks Dally!" Two-Bit said as he pretended to wipe a stray tear. "That really touches me."

Everybody sighed and chuckled under their breath at Two-Bit's antic.

**Hey, I didn't tell you we got us a spy."**

**"A spy?" Johnny looked up from his banana split. "Who?"**

**'That good-lookin' broad I tried to pick up that night you killed the Soc. **

Soda winced. "Dally really doesn't know how to be subtle, does he?"

"I don't think this so, little buddy." Darry said and both of them grinned at each other, already forgetting their pervious argument.

"What strange creatures' brothers are!" Two-Bit exclaimed as he watched Darry and Soda.

Steve looked tiredly at him. "I would smack you but I'm too tired at the moment."

**The redhead, Cherry what's-her-name."**

"Ah, I remember that." Two-Bit said with a distant expression. "Surprised the heck outta me, that's for sure."

"Well, that's the end of the chapter." Soda said as he closed Pony's theme.

"Let's read one more and we'll take another break." Darry suggested and everybody nodded their heads.

"I'll read." Steve said as he took Pony's theme and began to read chapter six.

**A/N: Sorry again for the long update! Just to warn ya, updates will take longer than usual. I'm sooo sorry!**

**But if I get enough reviews, I'll most certainly update faster than planned! ;) :)**


	12. Author's Note

**A/N: I am sooooo sorry that I haven't updated for a while. I decided to put this story on hold until May 6th. I have this HUGE science project that's due that day and I ****_really, really_**** need to work on it. I was soo thrilled from those reviews you gave me! You guys are the best! If I finish my project early, I swear the first thing I'll do is update this story.**

**While you awesome people wait for my lazy self to just finish my project, I totally recommend these cute, One-Shot stories about The Outsiders By Smile Because it Happened.**

**Sometimes**

**Love for a Brother**

**Even Superman Screws Up**

**These stories are TOTALLY worth your time reading! And once again I am soooooo ****_sorry_**** for not updating fast enough! You guys totally deserve it! I'm sorry!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry that this is soo late and short but I had to send this ASAP! I'll tell you guys why I'm soo late on my updates at the end so I don't distract you guys from the reading! Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock! This might be crummy because I did some serious rushing to get this updated!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders but if I did, I'd add Ponyboy's parents some more. **

"Ya'll ready?" Steve asked as he was about to read Pony's theme.

Everybody nodded their heads. "I just want to get to the part where we find Ponyboy." Soda said as leaned back in his chair.

"You and me both, little buddy." Darry agreed.

Steve cleared his throat and began to read.

**Chapter 6**

**JOHNNY GAGGED AND I almost dropped my hot fudge sundae. "Cherry?" we both said at the same time. "The Soc?"**

"I still can't believe it." Two-Bit grumbled. "There she was, the girlfriend of the soc that caused all the problems wanting to help us."

"I think she felt guilty." Darry mused.

**"Yeah," Dally said. "She came over to the vacant lot the night Two-Bit was jumped. Shepard and some of his outfit and us were hanging around there when she drives up in her little ol' Sting Ray.**

"That soc really needs to get her head check." Steve said as he shook his head. "You don't just drive up to greasers' territory like you own the goddamn place."

**That took a lot of nerve. Some of us was for jumping her then and there, her bein' the dead kid's girl and all, but Two-Bit stopped us.**

Ponyboy smiled at Two-Bit. "Thanks, Two-Bit."

Two-Bit shrugged. "I remember her from the movies that night. I knew she wouldn't be searchin' for trouble."

**Man, next time I want a broad I'll pick up my own kind."**

**"Yeah," Johnny said slowly, and I wondered if, like me, he was remembering another voice, also tough and just deepened into manhood, saying: "Next time you want a broad, pick up your own kind..." It gave me the creeps.**

Soda looked furious. "No, next time he wants a broad he'll pick up any kinds he wants." He spat out.

Ponyboy smile inwardly and patted Soda's arm. "Soda, it's okay."

**Dally was going on: "She said she felt that the whole mess was her fault, which it is, **

Steve looked thoughtful. "Well, when you think about it, it really was her fault. If she had just left Ponyboy and Johnny alone, none of this would've happen."

"I don't think the world works like that, Steve." Ponyboy said.

**and that she'd keep up with what was comin' off with the Socs in the rumble and would testify that the Socs were drunk and looking for a fight and that you fought back in self-defense."**

Darry snorted. "All that was true but I guess her testifying helped us a bit."

"A lot." Ponyboy amended.

**He gave a grim laugh. "That little gal sure does hate me. I offered to take her over to The Dingo for a Coke and she said 'No, thank you' and told me where I could go in very polite terms."**

Everybody in the room started to crack up.

"Damn, that little broad got some nerves." Steve said as he shook his head even though he was still smiling.

"Nobody says that to Dallas." Soda agreed.

**She was afraid of loving you, I thought.**

Two-Bit snorted. "How does being mean stop you from loving someone?"

Ponyboy merely shrugged.

**So Cherry Valance, the cheerleader, Bob's girl, the Soc, was trying to help us. No, it wasn't Cherry the Soc who was helping us, it was Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets and couldn't stand fights.**

Steve raised his eyebrows. "There's a difference between those two Cherry?"

"Cherry the Soc wouldn't help us but Cherry the girl who digs sunsets will." Ponyboy replied.

"Personality disorder much?" Two-Bit muttered and Ponyboy glared at him.

**It was hard to believe a Soc would help us, even a Soc that dug sunsets. Dally didn't notice. He had forgotten about it already.**

"That's Dallas for ya." Soda sighed.

**"Man, this place is out of it. What do they do for kicks around here, play checkers?" **

"Just because there ain't any rumbles and such don't make it a borin' place, Dallas." Darry said in a disapproving tone to Pony's theme.

"Do you want to tell him that Dallas is… well, kinda dead?" Two-Bit whispered to Ponyboy.

"I ain't itchin' to get my head busted." Ponyboy whispered back.

**Dally surveyed the scene without interest. "I ain't never been in the country before. Have you two?"**

**Johnny shook his head but I said, "Dad used to take us all huntin'. I've been in the country before.**

The Curtis brothers looked nostalgic. "Man, I miss those days." Soda said wistfully and Ponyboy nodded his head in agreement. The Curtis brothers had to stop hunting after their parents' death because they honestly didn't have the time or commitment.

**How'd you know about the church?"**

**"I got a cousin that lives around here somewhere. Tipped me off that it'd make a tuff hide-out in case of something.**

Two-Bit pretended to wipe a stray tear. "Ahh, the Winston family reunion. Goin' over their devious plans and tippin' each other off about tuff hide out. You can truly see the love and bond."

Steve gave Two-Bit an exasperated look. "Mathews, what on earth are we gonna do with you?"

Two-Bit pretended to look hurt. "Why would you need to do something with me?"

**Hey, Ponyboy, I heard you was the best shot in the family."**

Soda looked confused. "No he wasn't. That was Darry."

"Sarcasm, buddy. It's a thing called sarcasm." Steve said.

"Oh," Soda said awkwardly.

**"Yeah," I said. "Darry always got the most ducks, though. Him and Dad. Soda and I goofed around too much, scared most of our game away."**

Darry raised his eyebrows and they grinned back at him. Those two will forever be kids, he thought amusingly while shaking his head.

**I couldn't tell Dally that I hated to shoot things. He'd think I was soft.**

"Pony, that ain't bein' soft. That's bein' humane." Darry said confidently and Pony grinned sheepishly at him.

"Thanks Darry." He said softly and Darry affectionately ruffled his hair.

**"That was a good idea, I mean cuttin' your hair and bleachin' it. They printed your descriptions in the paper but you sure wouldn't fit 'em now."**

Steve rolled his eyes. "His face was still his own! Anybody could recognize him by his green eyes."

"Gray." Ponyboy immediately corrected.

"Kid, I hate to break to you, but your eyes are more of a green than a gray." Steve shrugged.

**Johnny had been quietly finishing his fifth barbecue sandwich,**

Two-Bit looked incredulous. "His fifth?! Damn, Johnnycake was hungry!"

**but now he announced: 'We're goin' back and turn ourselves in."**

"Oh Johnny." Soda said softly although he was absolutely thrilled that Pony and Johnny were coming back.

**It was Dally's turn to gag. Then he swore awhile. **

Two-Bit rolled his eyes. "Of course he did."

"That's Dallas for ya'll." Steve finished with a sorrowful smile.

**Then he turned to Johnny and demanded: "What?"**

**"I said we're goin' back and turn ourselves in," Johnny repeated in a quiet voice. I was surprised but not shocked. I had thought about turning ourselves in lots of times, but apparently the whole idea was a jolt to Dallas.**

Soda huffed out in exasperation. "What did Dally think? He could hide them forever?!"

Darry shuddered. "Ugh, no way."

**"I got a good chance of bein' let off easy," Johnny said desperately, and I didn't know if it was Dally he was trying to convince or himself.**

"Probably both." Two-Bit mused.

**"I ain't got no record with the fuzz and it was self-defense. Ponyboy and Cherry can testify to that. And I don't aim to stay in that church all my life."**

**That was quite a speech for Johnny.**

A wide eyed Soda nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, Johnny! I didn't know the kid had it in him!"

**His big black eyes grew bigger than ever at the thought of going to the police station, for Johnny had a deathly fear of cops,**

Two-Bit started cursing under his breath. Ever since Dally's death, they had been avoiding cops, period. Steve sometimes felt like grabbing those cops and wringing their necks because they were the reason his buddy was dead and no longer cursing or creating general havoc in society.

**but he went on: "We won't tell that you helped us, Dally, and we'll give you back the gun and what's left of the money and say we hitchhiked back so you won't get into trouble. Okay?"**

"I don't think Dally cares if he gets in trouble or not." Two-Bit pointed out.

**Dally was chewing the corner of his ID card, which gave his age as twenty-one so he could buy liquor. **

"So that's how he gets most of his liquor!" Two-Bit exclaimed.

Steve rolled his eyes. "You think he just walked in and did whatever he wanted?"

Two-Bit flushed and threw a pillow at him.

**"You sure you want to go back? Us greasers get it worse than anyone else."**

Two-Bit winced as he thought about that day he got jumped. Man, greasers really did have it bad for that week.

**Johnny nodded. "I'm sure. It ain't fair for Ponyboy to have to stay up in that church with Darry and Soda worryin' about him all the time. **

"Aww, Johnnycake, I'm soo glad you're concerned about us." Soda smiled sadly.

**I don't guess..."- he swallowed and tried not to look eager- "I don't guess my parents are worried about me or anything?"**

"Oh Johnny. You still got us." Steve said sadly as he shook his head.

**"The boys are worried," Dally said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Two-Bit was going to Texas to hunt for you."**

"Yeah, and Mathews here doesn't use his head." Soda grumbled and Two-Bit whacked him in the head.

**"My parents," Johnny repeated doggedly, "did they ask about me?"**

"Who cares? Those things aren't even human." Two-Bit snarled. "They didn't deserve a son like Johnnycake."

"You say it." Steve agreed with the same amount of anger in his tone.

**"No," snapped Dally, "they didn't. Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter?**

"They don't matter." Two-Bit growled.

**Shoot, my old man don't give a hang whether I'm in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don't bother me none."**

Soda thought about this. "That's actually kinda sad when you think about. I'd die if Dad hadn't cared about me." He said softly so that only his brothers could hear him.

Darry and Ponyboy gave him a sad smile and hugged him to comfort whatever turmoil that was building inside of him.

**Johnny didn't say anything. But he stared at the dashboard with such hurt bewilderment that I could have bawled.**

"Ah Johnny!" Two-Bit cussed. "You've got us. Ain't that enough?"

Darry, Ponyboy and Soda looked at each other. It was one thing if you had great buddies but entirely different thing if you had your own folks. That was something the Curtis brothers knew all too well.

**Dally cussed under his breath and nearly tore out the transmission of the T-bird as we roared out of the Dairy Queen.**

"I can actually believe that." Steve grumbled under his breath.

"Well, it's Dally and he drives with one speed." Soda grinned.

Steve grinned back. "I don't even think he knows where the brakes are located."

"Ya'll so lucky that Dallas is dead. He'd have your head beat in if he heard ya'll." Two-Bit said while rolling his eyes.

**I felt sorry for Dally. **

Darry raised his eyebrows at Ponyboy. "You feel sorry for Dallas?"

Ponyboy just smiled and nodded his head.

**He meant it when he said he didn't care about his parents.**

"I think he cares just a tad bit." Two-Bit demonstrated for the gang with his fingers.

Everybody looked at him as if he had two heads.

"You think he's still drunk?" Soda whispered to Steve.

"After two days? Well, it's Two-Bit so I guess anything's possible." Steve whispered back and Two-Bit, who had the two buddy's exchange, whacked both of them in the head.

**But he and the rest of the gang knew Johnny cared and did everything they could to make it up to him. I don't know what it was about Johnny- maybe that lost puppy look and those big scared eyes were what made everyone his big brother. **

"And that fact that Johnny's parents were the devil reincarnated. We couldn't let a sweet boy be influenced by their evil ways." Two-Bit spat out.

**But they couldn't, no matter how hard they tried, take the place of his parents. I thought about it for a minute- Darry and Sodapop were my brothers and I loved both of them,**

Soda affectionately punched his kid brother in the shoulders. "I love you too, Pone."

Ponyboy gave him an exasperated look and rolled his eyes. "I know, Soda. You tell me that every day."

Soda winked at him. "Just in case you forgot."

Darry, however, was glad that despite him slapping Ponyboy, Ponyboy still loved and cared about him. There was just something about brothers that made you forgive each other no matter what. Two-Bit was right; brothers are such odd creatures, Darry thought.

**even if Darry did scare me;**

Darry reached over and ruffled Pony's hair. "Sorry kid." He said sincerely.

**but not even Soda could take Mom and Dad's place. **

The Curtis brothers hung their heads low as the full weight of the truth that they'd forever have to live around the gaping holes in their hearts where their parents once occupied.

Two-Bit and Steve exchanged glances and gave the Curtis brothers the much needed space.

**And they were my real brothers, not just sort of adopted ones. No wonder Johnny was hurt because his parents didn't want him. **

Steve didn't even bat an eye when he heard this because his faced the same thing at home but Two-Bit and the Curtis brothers grimaced at just the mere idea of their parents rejecting them.

"Poor Johnny," Two-Bit said softly.

**Dally could take it- Dally was of the breed that could take anything, **

"Almost anything," Two-Bit corrected.

**because he was hard and tough, and when he wasn't, he could turn hard and tough. Johnny was a good fighter and could play it cool, but he was sensitive and that isn't a good way to be when you're a greaser.**

"Yeah well, Johnnycake had a good reason to be sensitive. I would be to if I had to live with those… those things he calls parents!" Two-Bit spat out.

Everybody looked in surprise at their normal cool tempered friend.

"What are you looking at?" Two-Bit asked as he noticed everybody staring at him.

"Nothing good!" Soda retorted, hoping to lighten up the mood.

Two-Bit looked over his shoulders. "I don't see any mirrors," he grinned.

Everybody in the room but Soda started to crack up because Soda didn't fully understand the joke until a minute later.

"Why you little grease!" Soda exclaimed once he finally understood. "Look who's talking! Girls throw their numbers at me so much that I can make a freaking Yellow Page!"

"If that's what you tell yourself…" Two-Bit smirked.

**"Blast it, Johnny," Dally growled as we flew along the red road, "why didn't you think of turning yourself in five days ago? It would have saved a lot of trouble."**

"Tell me about it," Steve grumbled and everybody in the room glared at him.

"Sorry," he said defensively.

**"I was scared," Johnny said with conviction. "I still am." He ran his finger down one of his short black sideburns. "I guess we ruined our hair for nothing, Ponyboy."**

**"I guess so."**

"Boy, you probably weren't so thrilled to hear that you messed up your precious hair for nothing, Ponyboy!" Two-Bit grinned.

"I was actually just focusing on the part where I got to go home. I didn't care about anything else," Ponyboy replied.

**I was glad we were going back. I was sick of that church. I didn't care if I was bald.**

"I think you'd care a little bit. I mean, you went crazy from just trimming your hair for Pete's sake," Two-Bit exclaimed.

"Aw, shut your trap, Mathews," Ponyboy said gruffly.

**Dally was scowling, and from long and painful experience I knew better than to talk to him when his eyes were blazing like that.**

Darry narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'from a long and painful experience'?!" He demanded.

Ponyboy gave a weak laugh but he quickly stopped when he realized that Soda giving him a questioning glance too. "I'll tell you guys later," he promised, hoping that they'd forget by the end of his theme.

Darry gave him a patronizing glance. "I won't forget about this!" He warned.

**I'd likely as not get clobbered over the head. That had happened before, just as it had happened to all the gang at one time or another.**

"He did what to you?! I told him not to touch you! Oh, he is sooo dead!" Darry exclaimed.

"News flash, Darry. He already is," Two-Bit said matter-o-factly.

"Don't get mouthy with me, Mathews." Darry said stubbornly.

**We rarely fought among ourselves- Darry was the unofficial leader, since he kept his head best, **

"Well, most of the time," Darry said apologetically to Ponyboy but he just waved aside his apology.

**Soda and Steve had been best friends since grade school and never fought,**

"Oh yeah!" The two friends whooped in delight and fist pounded each other.

**and Two-Bit was just too lazy to argue with anyone.**

Everybody laughed while Two-Bit blushed. "Hey!" He protested but Soda stopped him.

"Come on, you know Pony's right," Soda chided and Two-Bit just rolled his eyes.

**Johnny kept his mouth shut too much to get into arguments,**

"It is pretty hard to argue while keeping your mouth shut," Two-Bit stated.

"You don't say!" Steve said sarcastically.

Two-Bit narrowed his eyes at him. "You're sarcasm wasn't appreciated." He said, pretending to get that he was hurt.

"It didn't need to be appreciated; it just needed to be heard!" Steve said with a smirk.

Two-Bit picked up a pillow and threw it at him. "Shut your trap," he grumbled.

**and nobody ever fought with Johnny.**

"Why would you fight with a guy that won't fight back because he was too nice? That's just messed up," Two-Bit proclaimed.

"For once I agree with you," Darry approved.

"Thank you Darry! Wait, what?" He asked but Steve started reading again.

**I kept my mouth shut; too. **

"Not nowadays," Steve grumbled. He had to admit, the kid had gotten mouthier before everything happened but he had to admit; Ponyboy was one smartass.

**But Dally was a different matter. If something beefed him, he didn't keep quiet about it, and if you rubbed him the wrong way- look out.**

"That's the greatest understatement ever," Steve said gruffly as he rubbed his shoulder as he remembered when he rubbed Dally in the wrong way.

**Not even Darry wanted to tangle with him. He was dangerous.**

Darry raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I actually value my life," he said.

**Johnny just sat there and stared at his feet. He hated for any one of us to be mad at him. He looked awful sad. **

"Aww, Johnnycake! Nobody can ever get mad at you!" Soda cried out.

**Dally glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. I looked out the window.**

**"Johnny," Dally said in a pleading, high voice, using a tone I had never heard from him before, **

"Dally can talk like that?" Two-Bit asked, surprised.

"Oh, this is just the beginning," Ponyboy said, enjoying the shock faces of the gang but he still felt nostalgic for the way things used to be.

**"Johnny, I ain't mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you. Oh, blast it, Johnny"- he pushed his white-blond hair back out of his eyes- "you get hardened in jail. I don't want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me..."**

Steve paused in the reading and stared at Ponyboy.

"What?" Ponyboy finally asked.

"Are you sure you got this part right? This is NOT our Dallas!" He exclaimed.

Ponyboy shrugged. "I was surprised too but continue reading and you'll find a lot of things about Dally that'll be shocking." He said.

**I kept staring out the window at the rapidly passing scenery, but I felt my eyes getting round.**

"I don't blame you, Pone," Soda murmured and Ponyboy smiled at him.

**Dally never talked like that. Never. Dally didn't give a Yankee dime about anyone but himself, and he was cold and hard and mean.**

Two-Bit sighed. "That's the Dallas we all know and love, all right!"

**He never talked about his past or being in jail that way- if he talked about it at all, it was to brag. And I suddenly thought of Dally... in jail at the age of ten... **

"I still would like to know the idiot cop that sent a _ten year old_ to jail," Steve said while shaking his head.

**Dally growing up in the streets...**

**"Would you rather have me living in hide-outs for the rest of my life, always on the run?" Johnny asked seriously.**

"No," Everybody in the room said immediately.

**If Dally had said yes, Johnny would have gone back to the church without hesitation. He figured Dally knew more than he did, and Dally's word was law.**

"If Dally's words were law, the world would've ended a while ago," Soda stated.

"Amen," Steve grinned.

**But he never heard Dally's answer, for we had reached the top of Jay Mountain and Dally suddenly slammed on the brakes and stared. "Oh, glory!" he whispered. The church was on fire!**

Everybody gulped and looked visibly tensed.

"Come on, guys. Ponyboy made it out just fine! Nothing to worry about it!" Two-Bit tried to lighten up the mood.

"But Johnny didn't," Ponyboy said softly and everybody hung their heads in memory of Johnny Cade.

"Come on, the faster we read this, the quicker we can get over it," Steve said uncomfortably.

"Yeah, keep reading Steve," Darry said and Steve took in a deep breath and started to read.

**A/N: All right, the reason for my late updates... I've been diagnosed for cancer and I broke my ankle. Not exactly in that order. So there you go. I'll still update but not as frequent. I'm so sorry!**

**But you guys know the drill; more reviews equal faster updates! So let those reviews pour in!**


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